


Map of the Stars

by gracerealized



Series: Map of the Stars [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Stargate SG-1
Genre: Author attempts fight scenes, Author is Better at Fluff, F/M, Family Fluff, Family you Choose, Found Family, Humor, Mild Slayage, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:54:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 33,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27504889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gracerealized/pseuds/gracerealized
Summary: The joys of a two career relationship ... my secret lair or yours?
Relationships: Jack O'Neill/Buffy Summers
Series: Map of the Stars [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2010142
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published on TtH in 2008, I figured I might as well migrate it over here just for the hell of it. Completed, I'll just keep posting until it's done, unedited since the original posting. Buffy, Stargate, and anyone else you recognize belong to whoever owns them. If you recognize it I can tell you for sure that _I_ sure as hell don’t own it. The title is from a wonderful Melissa Etheridge song that has absolutely nothing to do with the story.
> 
> I'm a wee bit tipsy tonight so I thought, hey, why not? ;) (Adult reminder: it's not good to drink and post ... do as I say, not as I do. *nods seriously for just a little too long*)
> 
> I so appreciate all of the writers on this site that give me a few minutes away from the stresses of the world. I hope this story might be able to give a few people the same. Ya'll keep breathing, we're going to get through these strange days too. 
> 
> Be well,  
> <3 Gracie

* * *

‘Crack!’ Buffy was proud of her restraint, as the man’s head only snapped to the side from it’s contact with her palm. The way she was feeling, she had to remind herself twice that slayer strength plus mortal man did not make for a day at the mall, and that, you know, killing mortals wasn’t what she was there for.

“Buffy! What … ? How … ? Why … ?” He looked at her in shock as he cradled his jaw.

“ _What_ am I doing here? _How_ did I get here? _Why_ am I here? Hmm, let’s think about that. My boyfriend disappears with no word, I have to jump through ridiculously high hoops to even find out if he’s alive, I finally get here and am told he’s been MIA for six weeks and no one thought to mention it to me! You’ll excuse me if I’m a little ticked off!” Her voice rose with each word.

“Hey, it’s not like it’s never happened to you! What about the five months you were dead?” A murmur came from behind him as a voice asked someone else, “Did he say dead?”

“Nuh-uh. That’s the whole reason we made the deal. The reason I had to tell Willow all about us, so that if Buffy went all portally again, Wills’d give you the 411 and let you know I’d be late for dinner! YOU were supposed to do the same!”

He squirmed, noticing the stares of the growing crowd around him. “I did! It’s not my fault that Danny had trouble reaching you. He is non-corporeal now you know. Not to mention the fact he was busy keeping me company in between torture sessions.” He put emphasis on the word torture, hoping to distract her long enough to find some privacy.

“Oh, now you’re going to pull out the torture excuse?” No such luck. “Do you want to know how I got here? I had to call Riley! Talk about torture!”

“You called Finn?” The words popped out of his mouth before he could stop himself and he was dismayed to hear the petulance in his own voice. He couldn’t help it, he didn’t like the little twerp and the farther he stayed away from _his_ girlfriend the better. It didn’t help that Finn had been the reason it had taken Buffy so long to trust him. When they met she’d had a bumper sticker that read: ‘Oxymoron #47: Military Intelligence’.

“Oh, at ease, fly boy. I only called him to get clearance so I didn’t have to break into this place.”

The throat clearing behind him had been gentle enough to ignore, but at this statement, what had obviously been the beginnings of another attempt was broken by a fit of coughing.

He glared at the small blonde in front of him. “Now you’ve done it.”

Seeing that their boss was still coughing, Major Samantha Carter decided this was too fascinating of a conversation not to join in. “Uh .. Sir?”

He rubbed a hand over his face and mentally pushed back thoughts of a hot shower, cold beer and a little TLC from his girlfriend, not necessarily in that order.

“Samantha Carter, Buffy Summers.”

Instantly the scowl was replaced with a smile as Buffy reached forward to shake Sam’s hand, using the ‘company manners’ her Mother had instilled in her and that still made an appearance when she felt like it. “Nice to meet you, I’ve heard so much about you.”

“Only good things, I hope.” Joked Sam, a bit wary of the swift change of mood.

“Oh, you know, mostly.” She glared evilly over her shoulder, a reminder that the argument wasn’t over yet.

“ _Oh really._ ” Now Sam was glaring at him too.

“Buffy!” Just what he needed, two blondes who could kick his ass pissed at him.

“Col. O’Neill!” The General had obviously finished his coughing jag.

Jack reluctantly turned to face his boss. “Yes, sir?”

“My office! Both of you! Now!”

He sighed. “Yes, sir.”

The group of observers, which had grown to include Teal’c, Walter, Siler, two nurses who were probably spying for Dr. Frasier, a lab tech, a member of SG-4 and all of SG-13, who were apparently on their way to the gate room for a mission and stopped for a show along the way, watched silently as the General stormed to his office. 

“You are, as I believe they say, ‘in for it now,’ O’Neill.”

“Thanks for the support, T.” Jack rolled his eyes, then gestured Buffy ahead of him as they started down the hallway. “Right this way, ma’am, my executioner is waiting.”

“He’ll have to stand in line then, if you hadn’t noticed, I’m still mad at you.”

“Oh, I would’ve had to be dead and staked to dust to have _not_ noticed.” Their voices trailed away as they reached the end of the corridor and turned the corner. Those still standing in the hallway immediately turned to each other with overlapping shock, awe, amusement, amazement and not a little laughter. It was pretty much universally agreed that if they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, they never would have believed the sight of the 5’2” blonde going toe to toe with the foot taller, twenty year older Colonel. The crowd quickly dispersed, each witness eager to be the first to share the story of Jack’s ‘friend’. Sam looked at Teal’c and rolled her eyes, then set off to find Janet. She’d be dammed if she was going to let one of the nurses beat her to telling her best friend the juiciest piece of gossip since Siler was discovered changing fuses in the basement while singing along to a Paula Abdul song on his iPod. He tried to float the story that he was just doing research to see if ‘cold hearted snake’ referred to the Goa’uld. Everyone agreed that it was extremely quick thinking and the story might even have been able to fly, considering the things people were forced to accept in Cheyenne Mountain every day. It would have helped if he hadn’t been dancing while he sang into his oversized wrench. It also would have helped if he was wearing more than just his underwear at the time.

Siler stood quietly in the elevator as it descended several levels. He was thankful Col. O’Neill had been rescued and immediately done something to take the spotlight again; he was happy to give it up. Plus, if people were busy gossiping, he’d be free to listen to the new single he’d downloaded off the American Idol site. Siler shifted uncomfortably. If only he could dance better in coveralls!

* * *


	2. Get ready, Get set ....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of the chapters really are longer than this one, but apparently I was in the mood to post a short update when I originally wrote it ... ;)

* * *

Buffy had given Jack the silent treatment all the way to the General’s office. It wasn’t until he was about to knock that he realized he should probably know a few facts going in.

“Um, honey?” Her eyes squinted. ‘Note to self, do not use pet names when the Slayer’s pissed.’ “Right. Well. What exactly does George know about you? I’m assuming he knows _some_ thing or you wouldn’t be here right now.”

“He knows I have authorization to be here, and that I was looking for you. Beyond that, it’s _classified_ and he doesn’t have high enough _clearance_.” She smirked as she drew the two ‘c’ words out, still resentful of every time she’d heard them from the military.

“Oh, this is gonna go just swell.” He muttered to himself as he squared his shoulders and knocked on his boss’s door.

* * *

“Yes, sir. Yes, sir. But if you could just tell me … No, of course not sir. It’s just that she’s … Yes, sir.” General George Hammond found that if you hit your head against the desk just right it would almost drown out the sound of the voice on the other end of the phone. The _red_ phone. He had thought this was going to be a good day. SG-1 rescues his second in command, said soldier comes home relatively unscathed thanks to a few trips to the handy dandy sarcophagus while he was being held, the day should end with everyone celebrating and going home early. Due to Summers causing such a ruckus, it wasn’t looking like that was to be the case. Now he was listening to the president tell him in so many words to back off. “Sir I would never presume to try and tell you what to do, I just don’t quite know how to handle the situation if I don’t know what I’m dealing with.”

“George, back off Summers.” So much for ‘in so many words’, now he had the exact words.

He let his head thump to the desk once more. “Yes, sir, if you think that’s for the best. Thank you sir.” The General signed off then lay the phone back in it’s cradle and allowed himself a moment to let his head rest where he’d been banging it.

Almost immediately he was interrupted by a knock on his door. Taking a deep breath, and mentally trying to lower his blood pressure, he rose to his feet and tugged his uniform into place. “Come!”


	3. Remembering to Breathe ...

* * *

Jack opened the door and gallantly let his girlfriend go first to the slaughter. Buffy walked into the office, across the room, and straight into General George Hammond’s waiting arms. As they closed around her she could feel the tension she’d been carrying since Jack’s first missed phone call finally starting to drain out of her body.

“Are you alright?” George leaned down to ask quietly, as he felt the tremors in the small body he held close.

She pulled away enough to look up at him, furiously blinking suspiciously bright eyes. “I will be now, thanks. It would do wonders for my blood pressure if you’d stop letting him off world though.”

He chuckled. “You and me both, pumpkin, you and me both.”

Jack had turned away to close the door as Buffy entered, only to be confronted by the sight of his girlfriend nestled in his boss’s arms when he turned back. After finishing his impression of a wide mouthed bass, he finally managed to stammer out, “Is there something I should know? I wasn’t gone _that_ long, was I? And this _is_ the right reality?”

“Jack, shut up.” The two glared from behind the desk.

“Wow, you realize you both said that at exactly the same time? Okay, now I’m convinced, we’re in some freaky alternate universe. Hmm, usually I’d be hooking up with Carter about now if that were the case.”

Buffy glared briefly at him, then looked away, rolling her eyes. “How do you put up with him? I thought I had it bad with a younger sister and a house full of teenage girls, but I can actually say his whining is _worse_ than a group of teenage girls, and he just keeps digging himself deeper!”

George snickered in agreement. He had to say it was nice to see Jack on the defensive for once, although the man in question didn’t seem to be enjoying it nearly as much.

“Hey! I know this is ‘beat up on Jack’ day, but it would be great if someone would explain what’s going on, why my girlfriend slapped me, which still hurts like hell by the way, and why we aren’t at the ‘oh thank goodness Jack’s alive’ part yet. I didn’t get tortured to death repeatedly for six weeks only to come home and get beat up by a girl!”

Buffy had pulled back from George, who still had one arm wrapped around her shoulders, but as Jack spoke, her tremors became shakes, which turned into sobs, until she was weeping against his shoulder as he glared at the younger man.

Jack’s tirade slowed to a stop as he tried to figure out what the hell was going on around there.

George glowered at him and instantly dropped all hints of military formality. “She’s scared, you jackass! She’s been in the dark for weeks now about what your status was, for all she knew you’ve been dead all this time. Now I know it’s been a rough couple months for you son, and I’m glad you’re back safe and sound, but you’ve been in the military long enough to know what this sort of thing does to loved ones, so as far as I can see, there’s really no excuse. Now either get over here and tell the girl you love her, or get the hell outta my office.”

Jack paused, staring at his CO in consternation as clarity dawned. Without another word, he walked across the office and gently took his beautiful, red nosed, waterworks of a girlfriend into his arms. She clutched at him until he gasped, then relaxed just enough so that he could breathe. He buried his face in her hair, breathing in the scent of her shampoo, as he finally felt like he was home again. “I’m here baby, I’m safe. I’m sorry, you’re right, I should’ve made sure someone would contact you.”

She snuffled into his neck, relishing the slightly sweaty tang as her lips moved against his skin. “I was so worried. I even made Wills do a locator spell, but as badass of a Wicca as she’s been lately, I guess even she can’t find people on other worlds.”

Neither noticed as George closed the blinds and slipped out of the room to leave the two alone. “I never stopped thinking about you, dreaming about you, missing you. I knew I had to make it home or you’d kick my ass. Of course then I did make it home and you kicked my ass anyway…” She giggled soggily at his words, trying to burrow into his chest. Jack sat in the nearest chair and drew her onto his lap so she could cuddle closer. He buried his nose back into the crook of her neck and closed his eyes. It felt damn good to be home.

Buffy’s tears started to slow, and she began to ramble. “God, it’s been an awful few months. College started, so Dawn left. You disappeared off the face of the planet - literally, apparently, but I’m left wondering if your ‘Dear Jane’ letter wound up in my Spam folder. Demonic activity seemed to go through the roof worldwide. We lost three slayers in Pittsburg to a nest of vamps, a slayer in Boston to a demonic cult, two in Florida … all were girls that I trained. I haven’t even been able to go to the funerals, I’ve been jetting all over the world trying to deal with each new apocalyptic catastrophe. Half the time there hasn’t even been time for jets and the witches have just been ‘poofing’ me there, which let me tell you is not as pleasant as it sounds like it should be. Xander’s exhausted, Giles is looking like a zombie, which is not something I’d ever say lightly. Angel’s in a snit and bugging me ‘cause he thinks I’m with the Immortal, as if it would be any of his business even if I were, and meanwhile my real boyfriend is off getting himself into the kind of trouble I can’t rescue him from. Finally we start to get a handle on the world at large, I’m _finally_ able to take two minutes for something other than world-save-age to find out where the hell you are, and I find out you’ve been MIA for almost six weeks. Six weeks! Now I know your getting kidnapped isn’t about me and honey I am _so_ glad you’re home safe. I know you can’t tell me everything about what you do. I even know I can’t be a part of this because let’s face it, when the hell would I have time anyway, but this is the kind of thing that makes Buffy go back to ‘fire bad, tree pretty’ and yes, I also know the term’s turned into a cliché for me. Now here’s what I need _you_ to know. The bottom line is that I can handle everything else if I know that I have you. Vamps don’t scare me, demons don’t scare me, - well, except for that one I fought last week, you don’t even want to _know_ where it had a claw.” She shuddered, then seemed to get her train of thought back on the rails to finish quietly. “Losing you scares me. I love you more than I ever thought it was possible to love someone and I plan to keep loving you for a very long time. It would be very helpful if you would _stay alive_ while I’m doing that.”

For a man who rarely found himself speechless, Jack was finding it happening frequently since his return. He had seen some very low times in his life, and was constantly amazed that this incredible young woman, who talked like a valley girl and was young enough to be his- he cut his thoughts off. Well, she was young, but what was most important was that she was able to make him feel so much and make his life something he actually wanted to live. It was something that had taken quite a while for either of them to trust, so he knew it must have been hard on her when he suddenly dropped off the map. Or planet as the case may be.

He pulled back so he could frame her face with his palms and look straight into her eyes. “Buffy. I love you and I promise you I will always come home to you if there is any way that I can. It may take a little while, but I will never willingly leave you.”

“I know that, but I’m never not gonna worry. You’re just stuck with me that way.”

“Good, and you know I worry about you, too. I think that you’re probably right in thinking I don’t want to know where that claw was. Wait, was it somewhere really weird? No, no, don’t tell me, if it’s enough to scare you I sure don’t want to know.”

“Maybe not scared so much as icked out,” She considered this and smiled, mopping at her drenched face with her shirt sleeve. He helped brush the tears away with his thumbs, then tilted her head to his for a slow, sweet kiss. Hands sliding up, Buffy caught the back of his head and pulled him closer to slide her tongue against his and deepen the kiss.

“Mmm, I missed the smoochies too. I knew there was a reason I kept you around.” She managed to keep a straight face, then giggled at his dismay.

“I’ll show you smoochies!” He mock glared at her, then wrapped his arms around her and dove back into her neck, placing smacking kisses along her collarbone and running them up her shoulder to under her jaw, knowing just where she was most sensitive.

“Oh! Jack that tickles! Jaaaaaack, stop!” Buffy giggled and squirmed, trying weakly to get away, debilitated by her laughter and relief. It felt good to laugh and let her body relax into his after the tension that had been coiled around her spine for what seemed like forever had finally loosened. Her squirming also felt good to Jack, especially after not seeing her for several months. His attack turned into a gentle seduction and soon instead of shrieking with laughter, she was moaning in delight.

“O’Neill! I truly hope you’re not doing what I think you’re doing in _my_ chair, behind _my_ desk, with _my_ god-daughter!”

Jack stood up so quickly he almost deposited Buffy on the floor when the door re-opened. He hadn’t noticed that the ‘closest chair’ they had seated themselves in was the General’s own. ‘Wait, god-daughter?’

“Well now honey, I think you’re going to have to come and visit the base more often if the result is a Jack with no witty comeback.”

“I would have come to visit you a long time ago if I’d had any idea who Jack’s boss was, Uncle George.” She shot a playful glare at her boyfriend and bounced over to hug the bald man again. “Sorry for the dramatic entrance. If I’d known you were the big cheese around here I woulda called you in the first place.”

“I’m just happy to see you. After the collapse in Sunnydale I tried to track you down but all your records seemed to have been above my clearance level. Care to explain why the president himself just told me to back off any questions about you?”

“And when you’re done with that could you explain how my girlfriend and CO could possibly be related?”

“Where’s the watcherman when you need him? I’m more ‘Action Buffy’. ‘Splainy Buffy’ is sold separately with it’s own tweed outfit, a book, glasses and looks so much like Giles it _is_ Giles!” Buffy moaned, pausing to look from one determined face to the other as she thought quickly. “Look, you military folks are gonna want to do the briefy thingy, right? Riley was _al_ ways doing the briefy thing.” She paused to roll her eyes in remembered disgust and thought nastily to herself, ‘not the only thing he was ‘brief’ at!’ Internally chuckling, she continued, “So why don’t you guys do that and I’ll go to Jack’s and get dinner together, so that if I have to be splainy girl I can at least be comfortable, well fed, splainy girl. That could be a superhero too, right?” She attempted to justify the new label to herself. “‘Sides, I promised I’d call Wills if I wasn’t abducted by army dudes so she can go off witchy watch and have her Kennedy time.”

“It’s a good thing I speak Buffy, because that definitely wasn’t English,” Jack commented to the room at large.

“You’re going to make dinner? Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Now Uncle George, I’m not 12 anymore. I do have _some_ practical skills.” Jack snorted, and Buffy ignored him again as she continued sweetly. “I promise to only add the arsenic to Jack’s portion.”

“Well in that case, count me in. Should I bring anything other than a fire extinguisher?”

“Seriously, not 12 anymore! Sheesh!” Out peeked her lower lip.

“Oh now, you know I’m only teasing you, sweetheart. I want to hear all the news and I’ll be there as soon as I can get away.”

“Are you two done making plans in my house?” Jack’s pout wasn’t nearly as effective as Buffy’s.

“Yep! I love you babe, and you have no idea how thankful I am you’re safe. Now I need to relax, unwind, give a big thank you to the PTB and then do a little cooking for my men folk. I feel _sooo_ Donna Summers!” Jack quietly mumbled “Donna _Reed_ ”, but Buffy was on a roll and wouldn’t let it phase her. “Dinner’ll be ready at 7ish, call if it looks like you’ll be much later than that, kay?” She reached up and planted a smacking smooch on his lips, pulling away, then going back for a second, longer kiss. It deepened until an exasperated noise once again separated them. “Isn’t your throat getting sore from all of that clearing, Uncle George?” She blinked wide innocent eyes at him and he responded with a stern glare. “Right. No smoochies in front of the god-father or he’ll ‘make you an offer you can’t refuse.’” Jack groaned at the bad impression and she stuck her tongue out at him, flipping her hair off one shoulder as she turned back to the General. “Any way someone could tell a girl how to get outta this place? I’m afraid if I tried on my own I might wind up wandering in circles around some sub-sub-sub-basement, finding all the weird mad scientists and getting the shakes from my withdrawal from mocha frappuccino.”

“Well we sure wouldn’t want that. From what I hear there are enough scary things going on in the sub-basements already recently.” He tried to dispel the disturbing mental image of Siler and his wrench, then opened his office door. “Airman! Please escort Ms. Summers to the surface and make sure she reaches her car safely.”

“Yes sir!” 

“Boy, now that’s what I call service!” Buffy planted a kiss on the General’s cheek, blew one back over her shoulder to her boyfriend, and disappeared after the guard. 

George turned and looked at his 2IC who was looking about as flummoxed as he felt. “She was never what you would call a restful child.”

“Somehow I think I could have guessed that.”

* * *


	4. Feels like the first time ...

* * *

All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt!   
\--Lucy Van Pelt

Buffy straightened from putting the pan of enchiladas in the oven and raised her arms, stretching out her back. She was a little disgruntled over the irrational way she had behaved that afternoon. For the most part these days she did her best to hold her emotions in. When everyone looked to you for direction, you had to make sure you never showed it when you were confused, or hurt, or scared out of your mind. “Guess I picked the wrong week to give up sniffing glue!” She told the empty kitchen and snickered softly, the quote bringing back happy memories of a Scooby movie night several years before.

It amazed her that she actually felt physically lighter knowing Jack was safe, on world, probably bored in a debrief or being tortured by Dr. Frasier’s needles which he swore grew each time he returned to the mountain. Buffy smiled at his remembered whining. He was as bad about doctors and hospitally things as she was and wound up visiting them about as often as she would have if not for the wonders of slayer healing. She set the oven timer, then put the last few utensils in the dishwasher before leaving the kitchen and cuddling up sideways in her favorite spot on the couch. She pulled her chenille throw down off the back of the couch and draped it around herself. Jack loved the cooler temperatures of Colorado, but to a California girl like Buffy, the crisp September days already felt like Antarctica.

Closing her eyes, Buffy leaned her head against the back of the couch and remembered the first time she’d met Jack. Falling for another military man had definitely not been on her agenda. Falling in love again at all ever ever _ever_ again hadn’t been in her schedule. ‘Ah, the best laid plans of rodents and mammals.’

* * *

It had been a Winter evening when they met. Buffy had been guilted into attending a party at Riley and Sam Finn’s house, even though it was the last thing she wanted to do. Not wanting to look like the ex who couldn’t move on, Buffy had grudgingly agreed. It wasn’t until she arrived that she had found the house to be populated primarily with military personnel who showed off the ‘rainbow’ spectrum from fatigues all the way to full dress uniforms. While a few had brought dates who were not in gray, green, blue or white, Buffy entering in a bright magenta wool dress caused more than a little stir. By the time she had successfully fielded the third pass from a Riley clone, she was ready to be done with the party for good. Seeing another pretty soldier boy heading in her direction, she used her secret slayer skills … to duck and slide out the back door.

Shivering on the back porch, she silently cursed the demons who had made their presence known in Arlington, Virginia, cursed Giles for sending her after them, cursed the Finn’s for ‘happening’ to have been planning a party the night she was in town, and then cursed herself for agreeing to attend.

“You look like you’re having about as much fun as I am at this shindig.”

Buffy wondered why her slayer senses were letting her down all of a sudden. She had no idea how long the man who spoke had been on the porch and when she turned to look at him, he was hidden mostly in the shadows. Mentally placing bets, she waited to see if he would have a better pick up line than that. At least if he said something lame, she might get pissed off again and not be so cold.

“You must be a woman of few words, that’s so rare.”

She looked out at the frozen lawn and felt marginally warmer as she decided that considering the mood she was in, that was bad enough. “Not exactly. I just don’t feel like wasting any on you.”

“Ouch. Easy, easy, I promise I’m unarmed.”

“Aren’t you army boys always armed?”

“Ah. I’m sensing some hostility here, but let me set your mind at rest. I wouldn’t be caught dead in an army uniform so if you’re gonna insult them I’m more likely to join in than take offense.” 

She could hear the laughter in his voice and Buffy felt a reluctant smile stretching her cold cheeks in response as she turned. “Sorry. I guess you’re bearing the brunt of other’s stupidity at the moment.” She thrust out her hand. “Buffy Summers.”

His hand was pulled out of a pocket and therefore warm as it clasped hers. “Jack O’Neill. Sorry if any of my kind were the stupid ones.”

“Your kind?”

“Men. I have a female friend who gets that same look of irritation on her face when we do something dumb.”

Buffy laughed, surprised. “Knowing ya’ll, she must wear that look a lot.”

“She’s the only woman on the team. I’m afraid she does.”

“Usually guys aren’t as aware as you.”

“Hey, I know the Man’s Prayer: I’m a man, but I can change. If I have to.” He paused to sigh dramatically. “I guess.”

Buffy grinned in delight. “If the women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy!”

“You watch Red Green?”

“The DVD set was given to a friend of mine. Giles isn’t much of a television kind of guy, so I don’t really know what Xander was thinking when he picked them out - maybe he figured since the show aired on PBS it would be a Gilsey show - but then Giles felt like he had to watch them or Xander would feel bad, so we’ve been watching them together late at night when the girls go to bed and we can finally get to the TV without a knock-down drag-out fight.”

In the shadows Jack’s head tilted as he considered the stream of consciousness babble. “I think I understood that.” He gestured to her outfit and changed the subject. “So, how’d you get roped into coming tonight? With the lack of uniform and general scorn of the attendees you don’t seem to quite fit in.”

She grimaced. “In other words, I’m not kissing enough rears to seem like one of the other guests?”

“Hey, I didn’t say that. I may have meant it, but I certainly would never say something so disrespectful with all those rears around with higher rank then myself. Even that jackass Finn is moving and shaking with the best of them tonight.”

Buffy attempted to suppress her laughter.

“Did you just snort?”

“No!”

“You did so! I hate to tell you kid, but _that_ was cute as hell.”

“Oh bite me. I was just thinking of the way Giles used to mutter ‘bloody pillock’ anytime someone said Riley’s name.” She mimicked his English accent.

Jack joined her laughter. “He sounds like a good judge of character. This Giles guy your boyfriend?” 

Buffy paused at the question and thought about the affection Jack must have heard in her voice when discussing her Watcher. “In a different story, maybe. This time around he’s cast as a really wonderful friend.”

Jack thought that was the perfect way to describe it, “Somehow I think I know just what you mean.”

They were quiet for a moment, each thinking of the possibilities of ‘what might have been.’

“So, how do you know Riley?”

Buffy blew on her cupped hands, trying to rub some circulation back into them. It really was freezing outside, but she didn’t want to re-enter the reception and she was having a surprisingly good time with Jack. Until he brought up that shameful part of her life. Making a face she sheepishly admitted, “He’s my ex.”

“Ex? As in boyfriend?”

“I was young, I was in college, everyone makes mistakes!”

“True, true. But … still.”

She sighed. “I know.”

“I’m disappointed in you. In all the time we’ve known each other you’ve shown much better judgment than that!”

“Jack, we’ve known each other for two and a half minutes.”

“And in that time I’ve found you to have great taste in television, smart friends, and the wisdom to stay and talk to me instead of going back inside. The points were just piling up … until you told me you used to date Smiley Riley.”

“Smiley _Riley!_ ” Almost shrieking with a burst of sudden laughter, Buffy grabbed Jack’s forearm to catch her breath. “How the hell’d he get stuck with that one?”

“Are you kidding? That guy’s a walking ad for toothpaste!”

They both started guiltily as the door behind them opened and sounds of the party spilled out into the quiet night. “Buffy! There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

Buffy tried not to look at his teeth, but it was hard, they really were amazingly bright. “We were just getting a little air, Riley.”

At the mention of ‘we’, Riley peered beyond her to the shadows and, as he recognized the man standing there, stood tall and almost at attention. “Sorry sir, I didn’t see you there!”

Jack stepped closer behind Buffy and she looked up to see him in the light for the first time. Later, she would swear that a flock of gigantic butterflies had chosen that exact moment to fly in formation in her stomach. That was the only plausible explanation. Trying to multi-task by ignoring the sensation and not drool over the gorgeous male in front of her, both at the same time, she finally noticed the dress blue uniform and blurted out accusingly, “Hey! What’s with the uniform! I thought you ‘wouldn’t be caught dead in an army uniform!’”

He looked offended. “And I wouldn’t. Air Force all the way.”

Buffy rolled her eyes. “Six of one, half a dozen … “

“Buffy!” 

‘Uh oh, Riley doesn’t seem to be amused.’ Buffy considered that fact for a moment, then mentally shrugged. ‘Hell, when _is_ Riley amused these days?’

Jack’s eyes, on the other hand, had that laughing shine that only seemed to appear on television or the movies and so rarely in real life. “Relax Finn. I was just getting ready to teach Buffy all the ways the Air Force is better than you Army grunts.”

“Chair force.” Riley mumbled.

“What was that soldier?”

“Sir, nothing sir.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Buffy decided to take pity on them both. “Was there a reason you were looking for me, Ri?”

He looked away from his staring contest with the older officer and looked back at Buffy. “General West wanted to meet you. He heard about the Sunnydale situation and how you were able to help there. I think he wants to try and recruit you for some program he used to command. I couldn’t get any more details.”

“As if. You know that I have my hands full now, and I can just see the conversation with Giles explaining that I was leaving him in the house with all the girls by himself. Couldn’t you just tell this General dude I had to leave suddenly?”

“Bu-uffy, this guy is a four star General, you don’t just ignore him.”

“Then how bout you tell him I had to leave early with the stomach flu? God, I’d almost prefer to _get_ a stomach flu.”

Jack huffed out a small chuckle. “He’s actually not all that bad as Generals go. He used to be in command of the program I work for too, although I like him a lot more now that he’s not the one expecting my reports on time.”

“Not a paperwork kinda guy?” Buffy was in complete sympathy.

“To put it mildly.” Jack offered his crooked elbow. “C’mon, I’ll take you in to meet him and I promise to not let him go on too much.”

Riley watched as Buffy grinned brightly up at the Colonel and rested her hand on his arm as they walked back into the house. “My hero. Maybe the Air Force really is different.”

“Damn skippy.”

* * *


	5. Taking a break from all your worries ...

* * *

Buffy smiled at the memory as she snuggled into the blanket. The party had been the start of her most unexpected relationship, and considering her dating history, that was saying quite a lot. Jack had charmed her as he acted the perfect gentleman, getting her wine, snackies, and telling her interesting tidbits about the various military elite he was introducing her to. By the end of the evening she was smitten, and equally convinced that he didn’t see her in the same light. Sure they had flirted, and every time he touched her arm to get her attention, or the small of her back to guide her through the crowd, she felt that damn set of butterflies, but that didn’t mean that he reciprocated. She fully expected to leave the party and never cross paths with him again, still, she couldn’t help herself from thinking about him every now and then.

* * *

She didn’t like Colorado. It wasn’t that it was still draped with snow cover, even though there were daffodils blooming in Cleveland, although that was a factor. It wasn’t that the new slayer she had been sent after was a brat, although that didn’t help. It wasn’t even that she had been attacked by some dumb rookie vamps and torn her shirt … okay, that really pissed her off since she _liked_ that shirt, but that wasn’t why she didn’t like Colorado. Buffy did her best to keep her grumbling internal as she entered O’Malley’s bar, stomped the snow off her shoes and found a seat. The main reason Buffy didn’t like Colorado was that it wasn’t home. After the last few years she felt like she was always on the go and she was just tired. She missed her friends, missed curling up with Giles to watch television when they could finally send the girls to bed, missed fussing at her sister and doing her best not to burst at how proud she was of her. She never thought she’d get to the point that she’d say it, but she actually missed _Cleveland_. There was always some demon who needed slaying, some potential or new slayer who needed finding or training or explaining or some other ‘ing’. Far from decreasing her workload as she’d hoped would happen when Sunnydale collapsed and all the MiniBuffy’s were created, she was suddenly more in demand than ever. Buffy absently ordered a soda when the bartender approached, then leaned her forehead into her hand and closed her eyes. She had to take out her new ‘trainee’ tonight, and the way she felt she would be lucky to stay awake, let alone teach the girl which end of the stick was pointy.

“So, come here often?” The voice came from the general vicinity of her left shoulder and Buffy groaned.

Without opening her eyes she asked the disembodied voice grouchily, “Really? You’re seriously gonna try that line?”

Now the voice was tinged with laughter, “Well, I’m out of practice and thought I’d give it a shot.” There was a pause, and Buffy hoped that the man had taken the hint and walked away. No such luck. “So … do ya?”

“Look dude,” Buffy reluctantly opened her eyes and swiveled around in her chair. “If you think for one second-“ Her mouth and eyes rounded in shock. “Jack?”

He grinned at her, and she tried to calm her racing heart as she asked, “What are you doing here?”

“Getting shot down, apparently, and I could ask you the same thing.”

She considered her options. There’d been no reason to think up a cover story for this trip. “Um … long story, and I asked first.”

“I live here.”

“No way! Since when?”

“Since, ah, ten, fifteen years ago?”

“I totally thought you lived in DC. What were you doing down there?”

“The usual, shaking hands, kissing ass, my favorite things in the world. But seriously, what are _you_ doing here?”

“Um … vacation.”

He motioned one hand in a circle, asking her to elaborate.

“That’s it, just vacation.”

His brow drew together. “And here you promised a long story.”

Buffy smiled sunnily at him, suddenly wide awake. “Buy you a drink sailor?”

He shook a finger at her, “How many times do I have to tell you? Air force, Buffy, Air force!”

She smoothed her face out and deadpanned for the second time since meeting him, “Six of one, half a dozen …”

“Boy, Finn sure did a number on you, didn’t he?”

“Hey, it wasn’t just Riley, he had a lot of help in forming my opinion of anyone in uniform. You should see my bumper sticker!”

Jack gestured to himself. “Do you see a uniform?”

Buffy gave her eyes permission to take the tour they’d so desperately wanted to. The black button down shirt looked soft to the touch, and was tucked into a pair of jeans that closely hugged his lower half until they ended at his boots. In a uniform he had been hot, but this was enough to dry her mouth and remind her just how long it had been since … well … it had been a long time. Oh right, he was expecting a response from her. Probably with words and everything. 

She coulda kissed the bartender when he chose that moment to deliver her drink. On second thought, she would much rather kiss Jack. ‘Down girl, he’s just being nice, he totally doesn’t see you that way.’ Busying herself with thanking the bartender and removing the paper from the tip of her straw she missed Jack’s next question and had to ask him to repeat himself.

“How long are you here for?”

Buffy found herself having to consider her answer yet again. One of these days she was going to have to come up with a cover story that wasn’t totally ridiculous. “Not really sure just yet. I have to check on some things and I’m not sure how long that’s going to take. So, what do you do around here?” She decided to turn it back on Jack to give herself time to come up with answers that made sense.

“I work at the military base in Cheyenne Mountain. Deep space radar telemetry.” He only half hid the grimace.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, why?”

“That just seems so unlike you.”

“Hey, I like stars.” He sounded defensive now.

She thought back to the party at Riley’s. As Jack was walking her out to her car the night had been amazingly clear and he’d pointed out constellations until even with his warmth next to her she’d had to call it a night due to the cold. “Okay, okay, I believe you. I’m sorry, it’s just when you first said that it sounded like a weird lame cover story for some top secret government program researching aliens or something.”

Jack had settled into the stool next to her and had just taken his first sip of the beer he’d ordered as she teased him. He almost spit his drink on her and it was a close call that he didn’t even snort it out his nose in reaction. She was laughing at her own statement, and thinking ruefully that Andrew was already having too much of an effect on her. Jack joined her laughter uneasily, realizing from her reaction that she had no idea what she’d said, but disturbed just the same.

They sat in silence a moment, each trying to think up something suitably witty and charming to say. Buffy was about to break down and comment on the weather, of all the horrors, when thankfully Jack spoke up.

“You know, I’m going to be in DC next week, I was actually going to look you up. Of course doing that probably would have meant I would have had to call Riley, but I’m a big brave Air Force Colonel, I could have taken it.” He puffed out his chest and tossed his head as if he had a full mullet to back it up.

She was exasperated with herself. All the time they’d spent talking at the Finn’s party, and they hadn’t covered the basics. “Actually I don’t live in DC either. I live in Cleveland.”

“Really?”

“Go Indians! … Rah?”

He laughed. “You follow baseball?”

She tilted her hand back and forth. “When I have time. Usually I travel so much for work it’s hard to keep up. ESPN has this cool little online tracker thing. You can watch the games in real time, and it’s scarily addictive. Once or twice a year my friend Xander will drag us all out to a game to prove he’s not the geek we all know and love, so it’s kind of family time for us.”

Jack studied her until Buffy started to feel self conscious. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

“No, just trying to figure out if you’re as perfect as you seem.” She blushed as he continued, “Here’s the real test. How do you feel about hockey?”

Buffy made a face. “Not enough scoring, too many penalties and a waste of good ice if you ask me, but I’ve sat through a few games and even played a couple times. When I was going through my Dorothy Hamill phase I was at the rink all the time, and that’s where all the boys were.”

“Well that’s a relief, you are human after all.” Jack was only mostly kidding. “But … Dorothy Hamill?”

“We all have things in our past we’re not particularly proud of, and haven’t we had this conversation before?”

He grinned and tilted his head in agreement. “Finn, Dorothy Hamill … you really do have a past, don’t you?”

She glared darkly. “You just wait. You’ll slip up and then I’ll have suitable blackmail information on you too.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it.”

“Vee haf vays of making you taulk!”

“I have no idea what that accent was, but is it wrong that it kind of turned me on?”

Buffy was instantly blushing again, and Jack was suddenly wondering if he’d stepped over some invisible line and trying to figure out if the attraction was there on both of their parts. After all, what forty something straight man _wouldn’t_ be interested in her? It wasn’t nearly as obvious to him if or why she would return the interest.

She tried to recover from her flustered state. “Yes, it’s very wrong, but since it’s you’re first offense I promise I won’t beat you too hard.”

“It’s like that, is it? I had a feeling you were a bit of a dominatrix.”

“What can I say, sticks and stones may break my bones but whips and chains excite me.” She winked.

“You really _are_ the perfect woman!”

“And don’t you forget it!” Something he had said suddenly registered in her hot-boy-slowed mind. “Wait, you were gonna try and find me?”

Jack tried not to squirm. “Well … yeah?”

Her smile bloomed from somewhere deep. “Cool.”

He relaxed a bit on his stool. “Cool.”

Buffy was going to have to re-think her opinion of Colorado.

* * *


	6. So you've had a hard day ...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly shorter one today, hope you enjoy anyway ... ;)
> 
> (Hey, that rhymed!)

* * *

She stretched as she heard the door open and familiar footfalls in the house. She could smell the enchiladas, but the timer hadn’t gone off yet, so she knew she hadn’t been sleeping for long. Keeping her eyes closed, Buffy tracked the steps in the hallway. A rustling thud indicated when he dropped his pack, then the two more thuds as his boots hit the floor. Stocking feet were slightly harder to hear, but still easily distinguished as Jack padded into the living room. She could tell the instant he saw her and decided to take on his Slayer girlfriend. To anyone else’s ears he was probably being stealthy, but Buffy had to work hard to keep from grinning as she felt him getting closer and closer to the back of the couch. She was relieved when he finally carefully leaned over and slid his lips onto hers. Her eyes still closed, she grabbed him by the shirt collar, using the couch to cantilever him over the low back and on top of her. She had to give him credit, Jack didn’t even look too surprised at his new position when they finished the kiss and she pulled back, opened her eyes and said, “Hiya sailor.”

“How many times do I have to tell you …”

“Yeah, yeah … “ He pressed his forehead against hers and finished with her, “Six of one, half a dozen … “ They grinned at each other, then came together in another scorching kiss. Buffy ran the arch of her foot up his muscled calf and dug her fingers into his scalp, gently rubbing.

Her shirt was halfway unbuttoned, his had been pulled from his waistband and Buffy had the beginnings of a hickey blooming when they were suddenly interrupted by a loud buzzing noise. She whimpered and threw her head back as Jack continued to press kisses down her chest.

“Jack.” He gently bit the swell above the lace of her bra.

“Jack.” Moving up, he ran his tongue along her collarbone, making her shiver.

“ _JACK!_ ”

He pulled back and she almost cracked under the combination of mussed sex god and disgruntled little boy deprived of his favorite toy.

Fortunately she was the Slayer, genetically predisposed to resist torture. “Time’s up, babe.”

“Hunh?” Slayer or not, his look of pouty confusion very nearly did her in.

“The enchiladas have to come out of the oven now or I’ll be serving charcoal and Uncle George will never let me live it down.”

The light finally dawned and Jack reluctantly swung himself off his girlfriend to sit next to her on the couch. “All right, but I’d like to state for the record that I’m doing this under protest. If it was up to me, I’d tell Hammond we moved and take you-”

“Don’t worry cutie, there will be plenty ‘taking’ later on.” She interrupted, leering at him as she stood.

“Promise?”

“Pinky swear.”

“My pinky is not what hurts right now.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“Jack!”

“What?”

“You know what!”

“I just meant my jaw. You pack quite a punch there.”

She was instantly apologetic, returning to stand before him and cradle his face in her palms. “God, I so didn’t mean to hit you that hard. I was trying to hold it in, I swear!”

“I think I’ll live.” He tried to brush it off, regretting the joke that had brought the subject up.

“As if you haven’t had it bad enough recently, you have to come home to domestic violence.”

“Hey, hey, hey! " He slid his hands up to cradle hers and look straight into her eyes. "Look, I didn’t exactly relish getting hit by my girlfriend in front of some of the biggest gossips on base, and yeah, my jaw’s a little sore, but really, your point was right. I screwed up. I can’t even imagine how out of my mind with worry I would have been if you disappeared for that long with no word. And, luckily now that you have an ‘in’ with Hammond, I don’t think it’s ever going to be a problem again. So no beating yourself up over one hit that … ah … slipped through my defenses.”

She smirked. “Is that the story we’re going with?”

“That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”

“You do that.” Buffy placed a gentle kiss on his abused cheek and finally made her way to the kitchen to rescue dinner and stop the annoying buzzer that had been steadily growing louder.

When Jack followed a minute later she was ready with the pack of frozen corn in one hand, a cold beer in the other, and after only a minor skirmish managed to convince him he was only getting the alcohol if he applied the cold pack to his face. Grumbling, Jack pressed the veggies to his face and twisted off the bottle cap single handed as he headed for the shower. The sarcophagus might have achieved the cleanliness basics, but a hot shower and a cold beer were two things he’d been fantasizing over for quite a while. He glanced over his shoulder guiltily as he tossed the bag of corn onto the master bath’s vanity. It would take a harder hit than that to reduce him to a face of frozen food but he’d accepted it, knowing how guilty Buffy felt. He’d also really wanted that beer. 

Jack knew that after the last six weeks he should probably be a lot more traumatized, and figured that he’d still get to live through the joys of flashbacks, nightmares, and everything else that went with it. That didn’t negate the fact that now, in this moment, he was so happy to be home and have the woman he loved only a floor away. 

* * *


	7. I've got you under my skin ...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still one of my favorite chapters, hope ya'll enjoy! :)

* * *

It wasn’t unusual for Jack to visit Charlie’s grave at night. With the crazy way his schedule was prone to change, it was sometimes the only time he had to come and talk to his son, and it was also a nice place to sit, look at the stars and think about life, the universe and everything else.

That particular night he was thinking about the blonde he’d unexpectedly run into the night before at O’Malley’s. He hadn’t been lying when he said he’d been planning on looking her up. No matter how hard he tried since meeting her in Virginia, his mind kept drifting back to thoughts of her. Buffy was the strangest contradiction. Just from looking at her he would have assumed her to be your typical gorgeous blonde airhead. He found her fun to talk to and was attracted, but Jack was honest enough with himself to know that he probably wouldn’t have noticed that there was much more to it than that if it weren’t for the way several of the Generals had eagerly met her with something akin to hero worship in their eyes. When General West started trying to recruit her for the Stargate program, carefully not revealing any details of course, Jack sat up and took notice. It was obvious that she wasn’t a scholar, since, while he recognized a kindred spirit in the way she carefully concealed her intelligence behind glib jokes, she was no brain trust. So what could a tiny thing like Buffy possibly bring to the program? It was evident that she wasn’t buying what West was selling, so he put that aside to think about for another day, but by that time Jack’s interest had grown. It was one of the first parties like that he’d enjoyed since … pretty much ever, and it was due only to the diminutive blonde on his arm. He enjoyed her clever asides, the smooth way she handled the sometimes overbearing military men, and he had to admit that he downright loved the glares he was getting from the other men at the party, most of them much younger than himself. Buffy had made it clear who she wanted to be with that night and it felt damn good for the ol’ ego that it was Jack. At the end of the evening he thought briefly about exchanging numbers or asking to see her again, but talked himself out of it. He lived half a country away from her, was probably at least twenty years older, and had a dangerous job that kept him away for long stretches of time. All of that was considering she was actually interested in him in the first place, which he had a hard time believing. Deciding it would be easier to keep the fantasy than getting shot down in flames in reality, he helped her into her car at the end of the evening, and grinned like an idiot when she waved as she pulled away.

By the following Monday Jack was back on base and kicking himself. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Buffy all weekend. He’d made a few ‘casual’ phone calls to some of the higher ranking personnel who had been at the party, trying to get a read on just what made her so special, other than the obvious, but no one seemed to be talking. Her phone was unlisted in the greater Washington area. Jack wasn’t even sure if ‘Buffy’ was her given name or a nickname, or if the phone would be under her name at all considering it seemed she lived in some sort of boarding school from the way she talked. As the weeks progressed, Jack tried to put her out of his mind. He explained to himself frequently that they had just spent one evening together and there was no way she could be all that he remembered her being. No one was that perfect. 

It was Daniel Jackson who was nominated to approach Jack about the lovely mood he’d been inflicting on the base over the last several months, and Daniel who sat with him, pretending to drink enough beer to match Jack until he was finally loose enough to tell him the entire story. It was also Daniel who convinced Jack that he owed it to all of Cheyanne Mountain to try and find Buffy and see if what he remembered was really there. The trip was planned for their next down time, which would be in just over a week. Jack was planning to find Finn and get the information out of him. Barring that, he’d be making a visit to every ‘Summers’ in the phone book since he’d already found that he was ‘unauthorized’ to access any information the military had on her, even her phone number.

When he’d looked up to see Buffy walk into O’Malley’s the night before he’d thought he must have been hallucinating. There was no way things like that happened outside of the romance novels his mother used to read. He watched her walk to the bar, moving slower than he remembered, and obviously tired. It was those details that made him believe it was really her. Of course if he had been hallucinating she’d have been wearing a lot fewer clothes as well. Jack smirked at the random thought, then took a minute to imagine her with fewer clothes, almost walking into the short wrought iron fence that flanked the cemetery path as he pictured that. Trying to shake the image, he focused instead on the fact that, far from having his illusion shattered, she was actually much better in reality than he had remembered her. They had talked for almost two hours before her cell phone rang and she’d had to leave. This time Jack was a little more prepared for his Cinderella, and had insisted on exchanging numbers before she disappeared into a pumpkin. Or did Cinderella turn into a pumpkin? Jack took a minute, trying to remember, but princess stories weren’t really something he’d ever had to worry about memorizing. Anyway, they’d exchanged numbers, he’d gone home and cancelled his flight to DC, and to his excitement she’d called him first thing that morning, while he was still telling himself to be patient and wait to call her, to see if he’d be interested in having a late dinner that night. Jack pressed the illumination button on his watch and checked it again. He still had over an hour before they were supposed to meet.

Jack came to where the path curved, and angled off it to the right through a small gate, taking out and flipping on his pocket flashlight as he moved away from the lighted path. He’d traveled this path so many times that he really didn’t need the light to guide his way, however it wasn’t unusual to find an unexpected object in his way. A bouquet of flowers that had blown away, a new bush that had been planted in remembrance, Jack liked the fact that there were others who visited this area as often as he did. He knew that Charlie wasn’t there anymore, but it still felt nice that there were frequent visitors around his grave, even when Jack wasn’t. It meant though that he’d learned to bring his flashlight on nights the moon wasn’t full.

He paused and looked over his shoulder as a rustling noise skipped to him across the graves. The noise disappeared, and no one was there, so after looking around again, he continued on his way. A slight rush of air was the only other warning he got before he was flat on his stomach with the weight of a person on his back. The flashlight went rolling away from him and Jack lay there for a second in shock before his training kicked in. Before he could execute even the smallest of countermeasures, surprise set in again as a slightly crabby female voice came from somewhere off to his right.

“Hey! Stop right there, what the hell do you think you’re doing? Eh eh eh, don’t you raise that stake!”

Jack decided to lay there for a minute and let the drama play out over top of him, although every muscle was tensed to counterattack. Also, he was suddenly thinking of steak for dinner.

The female voice that came from Jack’s back was much younger, and had that whiny tone that drove him nuts. “Whadya mean? See vamp, slay vamp. It’s not exactly rocket science if _you_ can do it.”

Jack could almost hear the first woman counting to ten. He would have opted for twenty if he’d had to deal with the brat, although the conversation was beginning to not make sense. 

“And why do you think he’s a vamp?”

“Like, what other losers would hang around cemeteries at night?”

“Arianna, would you please use your brain? God, even I was never _this_ bad. First of all, he had a flashlight and was calmly walking along the path a minute ago which are two things vamps rarely do. Second, I don’t know about you, but I know for sure he didn’t trigger _my_ spidey senses. Third, there are a lot of people who might walk around a cemetery after dark. Us, for example - I see you playing with that stake, knock it off - and there are lots of other people who might be out here too. Caretakers, family members of the people buried here, stupid teenagers out to have fun, I could go on. And last, he hasn’t struggled, he hasn’t fought you, unless your stupid move knocked him out, he’s made the choice to lay there like the innocent he probably is until you get off him.”

“But how do we know for sure?”

She was talking through gritted teeth. “Did you try checking his pulse?”

“Oh.” Jack felt small fingers wriggle their way under the collar of his leather jacket and angled his head to give her better access. The body above him sighed, using his back to push off from as she stood and he felt his body sink deeper into the fine layer of snow. “Fine, so he’s not undead.” There was a snap of gum. “He mighta been, ya know. From the looks of that hair of his, he’s prob’ly pretty close to dead. Like, they make hair dye for a reason, dude.”

That was the last straw. Jack had been knocked down, his entire front was soaked and frozen from the snow so he’d have to change before his date, and now the brat was insulting him. He’d only held off countermeasures as long as he did because he was afraid of hurting the girl. Now, all bets were off. Scissoring out his legs he caught one of hers and pulled her down, rolling them both until their original positions were reversed and she was on her stomach in the snow while he sat on the small of her back, holding her arms down, and leaning forward enough so her feet couldn’t get to him. He easily subdued her unpracticed struggles and took a perverse glee in the mouthful of snow she’d accidentally wound up with. The girl finally spit out the snow and whined, “Bu-uuuffy, help me!”

Jack suddenly relaxed his guard as the pieces fell into place and he realized why he recognized the voice that was now coming from just behind him. “Well it’s your own fault Arianna. You never turn your back on an opponent, especially when he’s down and you’ve just finished insulting him. Now if you apologize for the misunderstanding and ask nicely, maybe he’ll let you up and we can finish and get out of here before I’m late for my date.”

“Nice priorities,” the girl mocked, then said in a voice so sweet it gave Jack tooth decay, “Hey, old guy, would you please let me up before I kick your ass?”

Buffy moaned behind him, “Arianna, so help me God, if I’m late meeting Jack I will make you run laps before training tomorrow.”

He finally decided it was time to stop being the strong silent type. “I think the laps are a good idea, but I can just about guarantee you won’t be late to meet me.”

_“Jack!?”_

He turned his head just in time to see a large shadow approach Buffy from behind. Before he could even open his mouth to warn her, she had spun on one boot heel, and thrown herself foot-first into a fight with the fanged man behind her. ‘Wait, fangs?’ He watched in amazement as she proceeded to kick ass with smooth, economical movements. With his weight unevenly seated on her, Arianna used his distraction to throw him off of her and scramble away. She made it to her feet just in time to watch Buffy thrust a pointed stick into her adversary and the man to turn into dust. The younger girl glared at Jack. “See what you did? You made me miss the good stuff!”

Jack opened and closed his mouth, trying desperately to come up with something droll to toss out. Buffy watched him warily, and he recognized the sadness in her eyes even with the benefit of the dim lighting. He dug deep, wanting to take away that look, even for a minute. “Well dear, how was your day?”

Her short laugh spilled out, and she approached to offer a hand up. Jack stood and attempted to brush snow off his body. Buffy eyed the wet patches on his shirt and pants and asked cheekily, “So, come here often?”

He sniffed. “Really? You’re seriously going to try to use that line on me?” She smiled and suddenly he didn’t care quite as much that his wet clothes were starting to freeze against his skin. Hell, he didn’t even care that there was a strong chance his new love interest was an alien. It wasn’t like it would be the first time.

* * *


	8. You make bath time so much fun ...

* * *

Jack pulled his head from out from under the spray and out of the memories at the gentle tap on the door. “Yeah?”

“Sweetie, Uncle George just called. He’ll be here in about twenty.”

He pulled the curtain back far enough to stick his head out and leer at her where she leaned in the doorway. “In _that_ case, wanna come wash my back?”

Buffy arched one eyebrow. “Wow, you’re offering me a whole twenty minutes? You stud, you.”

“Hey, beggars can’t be choosers, and I’m just about ready to beg.”

She pushed off from the doorframe and slowly sauntered over to the shower. He watched hopefully as she leaned closer until her lips were almost touching his. “When you put it that way you make it so difficult to say no.”

He swallowed with difficulty, hope in his eyes. “Yeah?”

Taking her time, she licked his bottom lip, then pulled it between hers to suck on. Pulling back, she stroked her fingers down his wet face and drawled, “Yeeeaaah. So I have no problem stripping down, climbing in there with you, and taking my time drying every inch of your body … with my tongue.” She paused to give him a hot stare when he groaned. “The only problem with that, is that it’s going to take waaay longer than twenty minutes. But it’s okay, you can just explain to Uncle George on Monday when you get to work that the reason we didn’t answer the door is that we were busy. And when he asks what we were busy doing, I’m sure you’ll come up with an answer that doesn’t have _anything_ to do with you making his goddaughter scream in pleasure.”

Jack closed his eyes, his face contorting in pain. “That was not nice. Not nice at all.”

She patted his cheek and pecked his lips then pulled back, moving to the vanity as he adjusted the cold water. “Well it’s not like I don’t _want_ to climb in there with you my darling. I can guarantee that I want your hot bod every bit as much as you want mine, if not more.” Buffy picked up the melting pack of corn laying next to her makeup case and gave it the fisheye before placing it on top of a hand towel sitting there. Deciding to pick her battles, she ignored it and continued, “But … I haven’t seen Uncle George since I was maybe twelve or thirteen. We’d still exchange Christmas cards until mom died, but then things like that just sort of slipped through the cracks, you know? I was trying to deal with Dawn and slaying and the monster of the week. I don’t even remember getting any more cards, although I guess they might have come.”

Jack rinsed the shampoo out of his hair and turned off the water, pulling back the shower curtain and reaching for a towel. He buried his face in the cotton threads and she took the opportunity to scan his body for new scars. He looked surprisingly good, and she had to remind herself that his captors had had him in and out of the sarcoffee thingy, according to the abbreviated report she’d gotten. Thankfully he wasn’t showing any signs of withdrawal, although they both knew it was a possibility. Dr. Frasier seemed to think it was unlikely in this case for some reason, but there was still a slim chance that it would happen. “Were you close?”

Buffy turned toward the mirror and started to twist up her hair, watching his reflection as he stroked the towel over the rest of his body. “Hmm?”

“You and Hammond, were you close?”

She forced herself to tear her gaze away from his muscled body or there was no way they’d be dressed and ready when their guest arrived. Reaching into the top drawer she dug around until she found a large barrette to pin up her hair. “When I was a kid he was the only man that I knew for sure would always be there for me. He and his wife lived down the street from us and I would be down there almost every day. It majorly sucked when they moved away. I didn’t understand it, thought I musta done something wrong, but you know the military. They don’t exactly take into consideration one heartbroken kid when they’re giving orders. They called and wrote pretty regularly for a while, but then she got cancer and it was a long hard ugly fight. She died about the time I was called or I probably would have been on their doorstep the day after the gym incident.”

Jack had wrapped the towel around his waist and now came to stand behind her, snaking his arms around her waist and meeting her sad eyes in the mirror. “In that case, while I’m sorry it had to happen like this, I’m glad I get to help you reconnect.”

One side of her lips quirked up and she leaned her head back against his slightly damp chest. “Don’t think you’re going to get off that easy … but, me too.”

He brushed a kiss over her temple then pulled away, swatting her on the rear. “Now stop distracting me or I won’t be ready in time.”

“Me? I’m not the one who was suggesting a shower quickie!”

“I know, but not everyone can be good looking _and_ have brilliant ideas like me.”

She blew a raspberry at him, then ducked into the bedroom to grab a sweater. She was pulling it on carefully over her hair a minute later when she reappeared at the bathroom door. Jack grinned at her from a face full of foam, then went back to shaving as he asked, “So how’s Dawn doing at college?”

Buffy lit up, always ready to brag about her brilliant little sister. “All the reports are good so far. She’s only been there a couple months, and she plays it down, but my spies tell me the professors are all impressed with her.”

“Your spies?”

She smirked and reached into her small make up case. After years of travel and nasties she was a lot lower maintenance, but there were still standards to be kept for Jack’s first night home and the first real time she’d spent with her godfather in years.

“You aren’t going to tell me?”

“Nope. A girl has to have a little mystery.”

“Oh. Right. ‘Cause other than that you’re the most straight forward woman in the world.”

“Pretty much.”

“That was sarcasm, dear.”

“It was?” She aimed her ditzy look at him. “Oh, thanks for telling me! I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

He finished his last swipe of the razor and shook his head as he carefully rinsed the blade. “I know what I’d like to do to you and it involves the palm of my hand coming into hard contact with that cute little butt of yours.”

“Kinky!” She giggled as he removed the remnants of shaving cream with a damp towel and tried to keep a stern look on his face.

Buffy blew him a kiss then used her lip gloss wand to outline the pucker as he added aftershave then took his beer and left the bathroom with a grin. She put her tools back in their case, dabbing on a little amber perfume. If he was going to go to the trouble of stinking good, she would have to do the same. 

“Doc Frasier have something new to torture you with today?” She raised her voice slightly to carry into the connecting bedroom.

“Don’t remind me. I swear the needles got bigger again.”

“Isn’t that what you said last time?”

“It was true then, too!”

“Poor baby.” She inspected herself in the mirror critically, and, deciding she’d pass, followed him into the bedroom, slapping the lights off in the still steamy room as she left it. 

Jack was buttoning her favorite shirt, a dark green soft cotton she’d found for him and fallen in love with their first Christmas together. “Ooh, my favorite shirt, someone’s hoping to get lucky tonight!”

He smirked and explained loftily, “I’ve been told it brings out my eyes.”

She felt the smile creeping back on her face and realized since he’d gotten home it had become almost a permanent fixture. He’d always had that skill, even that night when she was terrified he was going to go screaming in the opposite direction after seeing his first vamp. Instead he’d lay in the snow shooting off smart aleck comments and making her smile despite her panic.

“What’s the smile for?”

“Oh nothing. Just thinking how much I love you.”

“Doesn’t sound like nothing to me.” He pulled her into his arms. “Sounds like the best news I’ve had in weeks. Also, it’s pretty convenient, since I love you too.”

“Thank goodness. If you didn’t, I’d have to have my Uncle beat you up.”

“So do you think threatening me with Hammond’s gonna get old anytime soon?”

She tipped her head away from his chest to ponder that for a moment. “You know? I really don’t see that happening.”

“I was afraid of that.” He pulled her back into his chest and tucked her head under his, resting his cheek on the waterfall of hair cascading out of the top of her barrette. They stood there for a moment, feeling each other breathe and swaying slightly to music only they could hear, until the sound of the doorbell made them break apart.

Jack sighed. “Oh God, invasion of the in-law.”

She lightly swatted his arm as she started out of the room and was almost to the stairs when she heard him mumble from the bedroom behind her, “I just hope it doesn’t become another foothold situation, cause if Maybourne shows up I’m having Carter shoot me for real this time."

* * *


	9. Will you still need me, will you still feed me ...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes from when I originally posted ... ;)
> 
> Well I'm really not sure where this chapter came from. Uncle George got all defensive when the reviewers were confused about his actions, and decided to explain himself. I NEVER thought I'd be writing from his perspective, and I really hope I haven't done his voice a grave disservice. When this story started it was from Buffy's perspective alone. That came easy. Then the men started getting in and mucking it up. *rolling eyes* I think even after he explained it that his views are still a little conflicted, but that happens sometimes with family, right? *sigh* The dinner scene wound up broken into a few sections, it just made more sense to do it that way, but don't despair, food actually gets to the TABLE in this one! ;)
> 
> ~
> 
> My godfather was one of the most important people in my life and I still miss him so much. Even though he and "Uncle George" are absolutely nothing alike, my godfather was still the inspiration, so *raises an adult beverage* this one's for you, Dave. <3

* * *

By the time Jack had found his shoes and laced them up he could hear Buffy greeting General Hammond downstairs. Feeling inexplicably nervous all of a sudden, he walked downstairs to welcome his commanding officer. Buffy had already taken her godfather’s drink order and was leaving him in the living room when Jack arrived. She smiled softly and ran her hand down his arm as they crossed at the living room door. He paused, looking after her as George watched, then continued on into the room.

“Sir, welcome to Chez O’Neill! We flew in the most skilled chef for your dining pleas-“

It was obvious he’d had a chance to think about this and there was a steely glare in George’s eye as he interrupted, “Look son, I haven’t been a part of Buffy’s life in too many years, and I have no idea what your situation is here with her, but know this, if you hurt her … you’ll wish the Goa’uld had you instead, do you read me?”

Jack carefully released the breath he’d been holding. “Loud and clear, sir.” He hoped he could have come up with something else to say in his own defense, but Buffy re-entered the room at that moment, saving them both from the tension. She distributed drinks to both men, then nudged Jack to set the table while she finished dishing up the rice and arranging the food. 

George followed the younger man into the dining room, watching as the couple worked together to set out the meal. The kitchen was separated from the dining room by an arch and a large pass through, creating an open flow layout. They brushed by each other with subtle touches and looks, and it would have been obvious to anyone the love that flowed between the two. It had been a long time since he had seen his goddaughter, and it was difficult with all the memories that had been swirling in his head since she’d stormed the base, to look at her and not see a ten year old in pigtails. Every time Jack looked at her George wanted to grab him and string him up the nearest flagpole. He could feel his blood getting hotter by the minute, his fist clenching around the chilled bottle in his hand. Taking deep breaths he tried to find the calm that had somehow gotten him through the beginning of Buffy’s visit that afternoon. 

He had just returned to his desk from welcoming Jack home, and was preparing to cheerfully start in on the paperwork Walter had piled up when the phone rang. General West, a man he hadn’t spoken to in years, was calling to tell him - not ask, but _tell_ him - to grant full clearance for a civilian on _his_ base. Before he could even get the name of this person, he was getting word from the front gate that she was there and asking to enter the “top-secret” base. To be honest, he hadn’t even recognized her as his goddaughter at first. There were lots of people in the world with the last name of Summers and a first name of Ms., and looking at her now he could see vague remnants of the girl she’d been, and hints of her mother, but otherwise she looked nothing like the child he remembered. This Buffy had matured into a lovely woman, and she seemed a lot calmer moving around the kitchen than she had that afternoon on base. Once he understood who she was to his second in command - sort of - and the terror she must have experienced, he had understood the whirlwind that she arrived in, but that didn’t mean he had appreciated it any more. George figured that anyone on the outside looking in would have been confused at the brisk way they’d handled each other outside the office, and even his frustrated call to the president, but he decided it came down primarily to stress and fear on both of their parts. He was irritated as hell about the way he’d found what he thought was a stranger wandering the base, after some grunt in the elevator had scared her to death with tales of Col. O’Neill being MIA. She’d added to the general chaos of the base, started by Jack’s dramatic rescue and escalated by Buffy’s emotional response. He regretted the time it had taken to figure out who she was and assure her that Jack was, in fact, now home safely. He would remember her tear-filled eyes focusing on him and asking, “Uncle George?” for a very long time. There wasn’t a day that went by without thoughts of the girl he’d thought of as his own and he still regretted not doing a better job of keeping in touch with her family. He’d been promoted, they’d moved, then the cancer had struck and everything had fallen by the wayside. When grief had finally allowed him to try to reconnect it had been too late to find the close relationship again. No one would guess that the photo of the blonde child on his desk, tucked between the pictures of his wife, daughter and grandchildren, was actually of the confidant young woman in front of him.

Watching Buffy confront Jack had made him use every ounce of control he could find and he had done his best to hold it together until he reached the privacy of his office. The call to the president had not gone well and he was flat out terrified of the real possibility of danger in whatever she was involved in that was so classified even the president was telling him to back off. George could admit to himself that he hadn’t handled his seesawing emotions well. He had channeled the fear into anger, and directed some of the anger at Buffy herself. Thank goodness that had all melted away the moment she walked into his office and into his arms. He could feel her trying to stifle her tears, the same way she had the last time he’d hugged her, the day he and the rest of his family moved away. George could almost hear his wife’s voice, reminding him to remember to breathe, to accept that this beautiful blonde in front of him was no longer a child, and that if these short glimpses of her and Jack together were any indication, she was very much in love.

George felt like he’d been on a roller coaster ride all day as his emotions jumped back and forth and up and down, usually leaving his stomach behind and his heart in his throat on the dips.

Forcing his fingers to relax, George took a deep breath and moved toward the table. He was trying to think of something to say, but not wanting to force open any serious subjects was at a loss. He didn’t realize he’d started the nervous humming until after Jack had joined in and Buffy’d entered with the casserole dish, only to stop and stare quizzically at the two men.

“Is there some reason you guys are humming the ‘Cheers’ theme song? And, if there is … do I want to know?”

“Hey, he started it!” Jack was quick to shift the blame and the couple was suddenly looking at George, who, after a glare at Jack, decided there was no graceful way out of this one.

“I knew I recognized it from somewhere. Siler was humming it on the elevator and now the damn thing’s stuck in my head.”

Buffy giggled, setting the enchiladas in the center of the table, then grabbing a serving spoon from the kitchen. “Now Siler, is he the one with the un-natural attachment to his wrench?” She used the large spoon to gesture the men to their seats.

“To say the least,” Jack bounced his eyebrows up and down suggestively.

“I think I was in the elevator with him today too! I could have _sworn_ he was singing an old Paula Abdul song.”

George couldn’t contain the full body shudder, and Jack practically snorted with laughter as he told Buffy, “Wait’ll you hear what Nurse Betty told me he was caught doing!”

“Colonel not while we’re eating, and that’s an order!”

He winked at Buffy then sighed in mock disappointment, “Sir, yes Sir.”

* * *


	10. Tell it Like it Is...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now I know everyone has written a scene like this with Buffy explaining who she is, so I hope that it isn't too boring or too OOC. I took a slightly different slant on it (I think) so work with me here, k? Also, as far as I can remember or could find online, while it's mentioned that Hammond has two granddaughters, it's never mentioned if they're by a son or daughter or any names so I had to figure that one out. I've decided that I'm going to be a little looser in my SG1 timeline to make what I want fit, so I hope it doesn't throw anyone too much.
> 
> Life is too short to have sorrow   
> You may be here today and gone tomorrow   
> You might as well get what you want   
> So go on and live, baby go on and live ...  
> Tell It Like It Is ~ Aaron Neville

* * *

Dinner had gone very smoothly after a few false starts. They had carefully avoided the 500-pound Fyarl Demon/Unas/Gorilla in the room, an unspoken mandate prompting them to keep the conversation more general … so to speak. Buffy sung her sister’s praises as she caught George up on Dawn’s college career so far and he responded with stories of his daughter and her family. Liz had been four years older and Buffy’s earliest fashion consultant, teaching her how to use make-up and fix her hair, and always ready to talk about boys with the girl she treated like a younger sister. She was amazed that Liz was now the mother of two, but as the night was reminding Buffy and her godfather, the earth had continued to revolve, and everyone grows up eventually. As the longest living slayer on record, at twenty-eight, Buffy continued to be the miracle Giles had long ago called her. She hadn’t expected to live to see her friends marry and have children and when George was convinced to pull out the photographs in his wallet so she could admire the two girls mugging for the camera she found herself wondering, not for the first time, if the miracle was worth pushing farther. She slanted a glance at Jack through her lashes and wondered if he ever thought of having more kids. Buffy idly flipped the plastic holder in the wallet and drew in a breath of shock at the next photographs. Opposite a photograph of a much younger George with his wife and daughter in happier times, was a child’s grinning face with two long pigtails of blonde hair. Here was glossy color proof that the man who had always been there for her as a child had never forgotten her.

George was in the midst of telling a tale of the mischief his granddaughters had been into on their last visit, but Jack noticed her rapidly blinking the tears away as she carefully smoothed her fingers over the plastic covering both photographs. He reached under the table to put one hand on her knee, and her gaze rose to meet his. Jack quirked an eyebrow in a silent check in and was relieved to receive a slightly damp but beaming smile in return as her fingers met his. George fell silent as he watched the two communicate without words. He had seen Jack and his team do something similar, but it was sweet to see him as part of a couple sharing the same wavelength. He had wondered idly over the years if Jack would ever be able to find someone who could deal with the type of life SG-1 led, although he had to say he had noticed the younger man having a better outlook in recent years. George could even admit now that there had been moments he almost thought there was something going on between Jack and Samantha Carter and had always quickly put that out of his mind. He wondered now instead how much of that had to do with Buffy and just how long she had been the cause of Jack’s improved mood.

George looked at his plate to realize that he had emptied it of the seconds he’d been enjoying, and after careful consideration decided that his waistline would thank him if he stopped there. “Buffy, I must say you were right, this is much better than the dinner you cooked when you were twelve.”

She threw her head back and laughed as Jack looked on in confusion. “Well I would sure hope so!” She was still giggling as she carefully closed the billfold and slid it across the table to return it.

“This sounds like a good story to me!”

She stuck her tongue out at her boyfriend. “Jack, don’t you have enough blackmail material on me yet?”

“Ahh, the better to tease you with later, my dear.” He twirled an imaginary mustache then turned to his CO with eager eyes. “C’mon Sir, you know you wanna tell me.”

“Uncle George, I have a dessert in there with your name on it if you have some embarrassing stories on Jack for me.”

“Hey, hey, no fair! My embarrassing stories are classified!”

“Classified shmassified! As we found out today I seem to have clearance, so I want the dirt!”

George looked from Buffy’s determined face to Jack’s, “Well I don’t know son, she’s offering dessert, what’s your counter offer?”

Jack thought frantically, trying to come up with something to bribe the General with. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Buffy’s lower lip starting to edge out and knew he was sunk if she went into a full on pout. There wasn’t a man in the world strong enough to resist that coercion. 

“Uncle George, how could you even think about choosing Jack over me?” The lip was starting to quiver now and Jack knew he was sunk.

“Pumpkin you know I was only teasing.” He stood and helped Buffy out of her chair, tucking her under one arm and leading her away. “Let’s let Jack here clean up the dishes from that wonderful meal and you and I’ll go into the den to talk. Did you ever hear about the time Jack turned into a caveman?”

“Mmm, that does suck, but been there, done that, got the tacky tacky leopard print t-shirt. Anything better?”

“Ah, he had a robot made of him?”

“Who hasn’t these days?”

George was starting to get frustrated. “Alternate reality versions of his team seem to keep showing up?”

“Oh, I _hate_ that, don’t you? I always want to put them in t-shirts that say ‘I’m the original’ or ‘I’m the evil twin’, wouldn’t that make it so much easier?”

“Time loop?”

“Those drive me loopy!” She giggled. “Get it? Loopy?”

George took a deep breath and tried to think of something even more unusual. “Did Jack ever tell you about Urgo?”

Buffy heard Jack groan from the dining room, and shot a naughty grin in his direction even though she knew he couldn’t see it. Bingo.

“Urgo? I don’t think so, tell me more.”

“Well from what I hear, Jack can sing a mean Row Row Row your Boat, and did you know about his feelings for Mary Steenburgen?”

“I’ll find a way to get you for this!” Jack grumbled from the kitchen.

George raised his voice only slightly to call back mildly, “I’ll find a way to get you for this _Sir_.”

Jack sighed. “Yes sir, that’s what I meant to say, sir.”

“Not to mention the fact that I hear he spent several of his time loops learning how to throw pots.”

“As in smashing and breaking them?”

“No, making them out of clay.”

“Oooh, like in Ghost. Sexy!” She turned to yell to the kitchen and was surprised to find her boyfriend now leaning in the doorway, a dishtowel draped on one shoulder. “Hey babe, why have you never done that at home?”

George quickly interrupted when he saw the way the two were looking at each other. “But as I was saying, back to Urgo …“ He continued with his tale, and after sharing one happy grin with Jack, Buffy turned back to her godfather to listen with sparkling anticipation.

Jack was resigned to his sad fate and reluctantly wandered back to the kitchen to finish loading the dishwasher. It was nice to see Buffy so happy and relaxed, two things he loved to be able to have a part of bringing her. They both could have been classified as workaholics, but when it came to saving the world, it was too difficult to say ‘sorry, I’m taking the night off.’ It took a lot out of both of them, and the absences were getting harder and harder. Now that Dawn had moved away to college Jack figured it was time to have the living situation talk again. 

He glanced around the kitchen to see if he’d missed anything, and noticed that the oven was still on with a sweet smell beginning to rise from it. Jack peeked inside to find one of his favorite desserts cooking. Buffy might not have a lot of variety to her cooking, not having much time to experiment or try new things, but what she did make was wonderful. Even better, she was more used to cooking on a large scale at the house in Cleveland, so when she cooked for the two of them there were usually leftovers to eat in the days following and even some to freeze and eat later. His mouth watered as the smells of cinnamon and apple drifted out of the oven, only to close the oven with a bang when Buffy’s voice drifted out of the living room. “Jack, it’ll cook a lot faster without you watching it.”

“How does she know these things?” He grumbled softly to the empty room as he stood up.

Not soft enough for slayer hearing. “Cause I know you babe, now come sit with us. I think Uncle George has been patient and I’ve been procrastinaty long enough.”

Jack wiped his suddenly damp palms on his jeans and took a moment to carefully hang up the dishtowel, then re-entered the living room. He looked at Buffy who was not looking nearly as calm as she sounded, but she seemed to be holding up. He joined her on the couch and she immediately snuggled her shoulder against his and twined their fingers together. Jack could tell his boss wasn’t thrilled with the seating arrangement, but he seemed to be keeping his cool for the time being.

Buffy looked at her boyfriend. “Where should I start?”

“The middle?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Thanks. I wish I’d thought to bring a copy of the training video with me. That woulda cut out repeating the first part for the fifty millionth time.” She sighed. “Okay, here goes, I’ll skip all the boring ‘the earth is older than we know’ crap and jump to my part in the saga, which I guess kinda _is_ the middle.” She stopped for a second, searching for the right words. “So just before I turned fifteen, I went through a change.” Buffy paused again and made a face. “See, now I sound like I was going through menopause or something. This is why Giles does the ‘splaining and I do the slaying. It just works better that way!”

“Buffy.” Jack gently squeezed her hand to bring her back from babbleland.

“Right, right, I know. Okay, so I was almost fifteen when I woke up one morning and everything was different. I mean, everything was still the same in some ways. Mom and Dad were arguing, Dawn was whining about something, and that was all the same. But the difference was that I could hear every word they spoke, even through the closed bedroom door, even though I was upstairs in bed and they were trying to be quiet downstairs in the kitchen. When I reached to turn off the alarm I realized that I’d gotten a lot stronger and that I suddenly needed a new alarm clock. At school I found that my reflexes were way better than they’d ever been before. It was kinda like in the Spiderman movie after he gets bit, just without the icky webby stuff, you know? I was still all oblivious, didn’t know what was going on but did my best to hide it. It was so totally not cool, ya know?” Buffy slipped into valley girl speak for a minute, thinking ruefully of the girl she’d been. “I went to cheerleading practice as normal, and afterwards this older guy came up to me. I was all ready to freak about the fact that icky old guy was talking to moi when he started telling me all these weird things. Weird things that turned out to be completely true.” She paused one last time, drawing in a deep breath and looking straight at her godfather as she cut to the chase and put it as simply as she knew how. “What it came down to, is that vampires exist. Magic and demons exist. Something called the Slayer exists, and that would be me. It’s my job to find the vamps and demons and kill them.”

She decided to give George a minute to react before she tried to go into any more details. In the twelve years or so she’d been the slayer, she’d had to explain the story quite a few times. Usually it was easier with show and tell, as Jack had learned, but that had it’s own issues too.

Jack could feel her tension where their shoulders met, and carefully disconnected their fingers to wrap his arm around her. From the stories Buffy’d told him, there were many ways this conversation could go, and he hoped that after all his commanding officer had seen in his years with the Stargate, that this would be one of the better ‘Buffy ‘splainy sessions’ as she called them. She relaxed infinitesimally into him, but still watched her godfather closely, waiting to see how he’d react.

George took a deep breath, and after arguing with himself for a moment about the possibility of these statements being true vs. two people he trusted telling him this with complete confidence, was able to ask, “Tell me more?”

Buffy relaxed slightly, first hurdle cleared. He, unlike many of the people she had told, was at least prepared to listen.

* * *


	11. Our Story goes On ...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extra points to anyone who sees the Urgo reference, it always amuses the heck outta me. ;)

* * * 

Jack tried to sit back and not interrupt too much as Buffy told her tale to her godfather. George seemed to be taking it all in, asking a few questions, but most of them were pertinent and nothing along the ‘what are you high on’ variety.

Buffy had almost told the story of the end of Sunnydale enough times to be able to recite the facts with a minimum of tears. Jack vividly remembered the way she had sobbed in his arms as she told him years before. Time, while not able to heal all wounds, at least gives you a little distance from the pain. Nonetheless, his arm pulled her closer, and her hand tightened where it had been absently stroking his knee.

There was a moment of silence when she finished her tale and Jack could see the horror, fear and sadness in George’s eyes. He didn’t even try to mask it, probably knowing that it wouldn’t be possible, and Jack understood, having felt that mix of emotions himself more than he cared to admit over the last few years. The fact that this unknown war had been going on and being fought by one woman for so many years was horrifying to the military men.

“Have things gotten easier with more slayers?”

Buffy laughed and looked up at her boyfriend, thinking ruefully of the times she had whined about what shoulda been. “You’d think that, wouldn’t you? Apparently there’s still something to be said for being the original. I spend way too much time traveling, and way more time being mother/sister/trainer/confidant than I ever thought possible, but when the world needs saving you can’t exactly say, not tonight, I’ve gotta wash my hair. But then, you know all about that, don’t you Uncle George?”

The older man nodded solemnly, slightly humbled by the woman she had turned into. He would have liked to think he had something to do with that, but knew it had been way too many years to be able to claim credit. If there were any way to disbelieve her stories, he would have gladly seized the chance, but unfortunately, or fortunately for saving time he supposed, he had heard a rumor or two from the Initiative days that were now being confirmed. “Are any of the new slayers a help at all?”

“Oh, sure they are. But the reality is, we’re dealing with mostly young teenage girls. Most of them received their power having had no training and had no clue what’s going on. Almost all the watchers were wiped out by the First so these girls are dealing with it on their own. A very few of the potentials had watchers before, but …” She trailed off, shaking her head. “Giles and I remind each other frequently that it’s only been four years. It takes time to train an army and things’ll get easier soon. They’ve got to. And if they don’t, plan B’s a black bikini and a beach.” Buffy winked at her boyfriend, thinking of the three wonderful days they’d spent under similar circumstances and his eyes glazed slightly in remembered lechery.

George wasn’t sure how to handle these revelations, so went with something he could understand a little better. “How did the two of you meet?”

Buffy grinned and looked up at Jack. “My ex-“

“The bloody pillock,” Jack interjected.

“Yes, thank you, Giles.” She rolled her eyes at him while he grinned back. “That outta your system now, or can I continue?”

He was still considering when she proceeded, “Anyway, my ex was having a meet and greet for military personnel and Jack was hiding on the porch when _I_ went out to hide on the porch.”

“That sounds like where I would usually find him, that is if he hadn’t found some way to get in trouble first.”

Buffy giggled. “Yeah, I think that’s why we get along.”

“How long ago was that?”

She looked at her boyfriend, and George could see both of them thinking. “About two years?”

Jack nodded. “Something like that.”

“It’s been difficult finding time, my schedule is insane, and as you know, Jack’s isn’t much better. I get out here whenever I can, Jack comes to meet me whenever _he_ can, and other than that we spend a lot of time on the phone.”

“You’re still based out of Cleveland?”

“Yeah, that’s where Giles is and where a lot of training happens when the girls are in a position to go. Dawn decided to stay close and just take a few classes instead of going off to college right away, and it’s been nice that she can have Giles there even when I’m not. It feels kinda weird that she’s moved out and won’t be there when I go home, but I know it’s a good step for her. The gang wound up more spread out over the last couple years, but we still keep in pretty close contact.” As if hearing her words, the phone rang next to them. Buffy buried her face in her hands. “I had to say it, didn’t I? I just had to!”

Jack chuckled as he disentangled himself and walked to answer it in the next room in case it was something requiring privacy. After a short pause he was calling back in, “Buffy, it’s Anna, sounds like she needs you.”

Buffy pushed herself up off the couch. “Ah, the love never stops.” She rolled her eyes and excused herself.

George tried to listen to the conversation in the other room, but other than several ‘uh-hunh’s’, a ‘where?’ and a ‘how many?’ was unable to make out much more. Jack appeared and seated himself on the edge of the sofa, looking like he was now on full alert. They both heard the phone being hung up, then a heartfelt whined, “Craaaaaaaaap,” before Buffy re-appeared.

“Sorry Uncle George looks like duty calls. I so wish my number was unlisted.” She pouted.

“How bad is it?” Both men were on their feet and Jack couldn’t help the tension and nerves he felt. He had seen Buffy win time after time, but that didn’t help to keep him calm when the situation started again.

“Looks like a nest has been building for a little while. Anna got surrounded and messed up pretty good. She didn’t want to admit it, but you know if she called that it’s worse than she let on. Doesn’t sound like more than fifteen or twenty, so it shouldn’t take that long.” She bundled the hair she had released back into the clip and out of her way.

“I’ll get our coats, you get the weapons.”

“That’s okay, you guys stay here, I’ll take care of this and be back before you know it.”

“Would it be possible-“ George paused, did he really want to do this? He didn’t, but … “Would it be possible for me to come along?” He did.

Buffy and Jack looked at him, then at each other, holding a silent conversation once again. Finally she sighed. “Are you sure you’re up to this sweetie? You did just get rescued like twelve hours ago.”

“Buffy, I’m fine. Promise. ‘Sides, if I know you and Anna, you won’t leave anything fun for me to do anyway.”

She rolled her eyes, and then looked at both men, “Okay, you guys can come, but you stay out of the fighting, do you hear me? I’m watching you, mister…s.” Buffy finished awkwardly, scrunching up her nose. “Whatever, let’s get a move on.”

George hustled to keep up as the pair worked to leave the house as quickly as possible. Buffy ran to turn off the oven, returning with a military style duffel bag that clanked alarmingly, while Jack went to the closet and pulled out their coats. Less than five minutes after the call had come in, the three were squeezed in Jack’s truck and backing out the driveway.

Buffy braced one hand on Jack’s hard thigh as he took a corner faster than her seatbelt wanted to allow. “Sorry, Jack likes to drive like something out of NAASCAR.”

The man in question snorted. “Like you’re one to talk. How many times have I had to replace my mailbox?”

“Hey, that’s not fair! It so shouldn’t be sticking out like that.”

“You mean sticking out like that … on the corner … of the sidewalk?”

“Well …” she paused to think up something suitable in response. Ah ha! “At least _I’ll_ stop for directions!” An oldie but a goodie.

“I don’t need to ask directions, I, unlike you, actually _have_ a sense of direction. I swear I’m buying you a GPS for Christmas.”

“I so _do_ have a sense of direction! I never have any trouble finding the nearest Starbucks.”

“That’s because there’s one on every corner!”

“That’s beside the point, I can still find them.”

George watched as the two disintegrated from a team out to save the world into a normal couple bickering over driving. It was actually kind of cute, especially since it was obviously not the first time, they seemed to both enjoy it and midway through the argument he saw Jack reach down to gently stroke her hand with his. George chuckled, trying to settle them down. “Now children …” He broke off almost immediately as they both shot him glares. “Never mind.” Turning towards the side window he immersed himself in watching the scenery whipping past. Never let it be said that he wasn’t a fast learner.

They were only the road for maybe five minutes before Buffy was pointing and Jack pulled over to the side, a short distance from a darkened cemetery. Jack braked to a stop and Buffy was instantly unbuckling herself and climbing over him to get out to the young girl waiting. Jack put the truck in park and turned off the engine, following her out of the vehicle, and George trailed behind at a slightly slower pace. He didn’t want to get in the way and wanted to make sure that they had plenty of room to do … whatever it was that they were going to do. He watched as his goddaughter pulled the girl into a quick embrace, then pulled her back to check her over. With a few words Jack was hustling back to his truck for the first aid kit, and by the time George reached the two girls Buffy was leading the younger to sit on the lowered lip of the truck bed. While the younger girl had to look down at Buffy physically when they stood side by side, he could tell that she looked up to her immensely in other ways. There was definitely more than a touch of hero worship in her gaze. Buffy spoke to her quietly and George could tell that she was already regaining her equilibrium with Buffy’s help.

Jack came around the truck with the first aid kit, Buffy immediately opened it and the young girl looked up, giving him a slightly shaky grin. “Hey old dude.”

“Hey brat.” Jack smiled at her warmly, gently brushing some hair off the knot on her forehead as Buffy began to wipe away the blood on her arm. “How you doin?”

“So glad you guys were home finally. Where ya been? I’ve been calling for weeks but I haven’t gotten any answer. Lucky tonight was the first night I needed backup.”

Buffy slapped the flashlight into his hand to direct on the wounds and he made the mistake of looking at them before nausea made him look away. “Long story, had to deal with some baddies of my own. I got back just in time I guess, but I wish the vamps had waited a bit tonight. Buffy had dessert in the oven.”

“Ooh, that apple crispy thingy?”

“Yeah, with the crumbly stuff on top.”

“Man, that’s my favorite. Got vanilla ice cream to go with it?”

“We’ll kick some ass here, then go back to the house and see what we can find.”

She winced at Buffy’s doctoring skills, then grinned at him. “Deal. Hey, what’s with baldy?”

Buffy looked up from where she was taping a bandage. “That’s my godfather, George. Be nice or I’ll kick your butt.” She smiled to take the sting out of her words. “Uncle George, this is Arianna Dean, usually known as Anna, sometimes known by other less flattering names.”

“Nice to meet you Anna. Now that apple crisp, does it have raisins?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm, I bet I could tell you about the first time she ever made one of those.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Buffy glared at him and he just smiled back. “Oh crap, you so would.” She turned to Anna. “You know how I said to be nice to him? I take it back, be as mean as you want. Use every _ounce_ of that brattiness you used to unleash on me. Go wild!”

Jack shared a conspiratorial wink with the young girl, thankfully now distracted from the wounds Buffy was binding. “Does this have anything to do with the story you were going to tell me earlier? Because that sounded like a doozy!”

“Ja-ack, no fair! I knew I shouldn’t have let you boys out with me tonight.” She finished with the last of the visible wounds and began replacing the items into the first aid kit. “Now enough of this, we have some vamps to make regret they ever became undead. You up for it kiddo or you gonna sit this one out?”

Anna had almost forgotten where they were and why they were there. “No, I’m good to go. I just needed a little backup.”

“Look at me.” Buffy pulled a smaller flashlight from the kit and carefully checked her pupils. Jack winced in sympathy of remembered _repeated_ pain. “Okay, you don’t look like you have a concussion, but I still want you to take it easy and _tell_ me if you need to get out of the action. You know as well as I do that it’ll be worse in there if you’re at half strength and are making stupid mistakes.”

“Yes mom.” Anna smiled toothily.

Buffy turned to Jack, suddenly the long-suffering housewife. “I swear I tried to raise her right, I just don’t know where we went wrong, dear.”

“You dragging me into this too now?”

“Whither thou goest and all that jazz.” She fluttered her lashes.

He looked at George and shook his head. “The really sad thing, is that it works on me every single time.” He looked back down at his girlfriend and dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “Okay babe. Where are we goesting?”

* * *


	12. He Shouldn't-A, Hadn't-A, Oughtn't-A Swang on Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which the tags on this story start to kick in ...
> 
> Disclaimy thingy: I still don't own anyone or anything you recognize. I do own Anna, bless her heart. Hasn't she grown up well? LOL I wish child rearing was that easy in real life. ;) The movie mentioned is one of my favorites: Blake Edwards' The Great Race. It's where the song title comes from and if you haven't seen it I would HIGHLY recommend it. It stars Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Jack Lemmon, Peter Falk & Vivian Vance and is one of the funniest movies of all time. I first saw it in my early teens and couldn't even begin to count the number of times I've seen it since then, since it's still a favorite. 
> 
> "The message on his tomb-stone is as simple as can be:  
> He shouldn't-a, hadn't-a, oughtn't-a swang on me."  
>  ~ Henry Mancini

* * *

Buffy tried to figure out how she had gotten to this point in her life. It wasn’t that she was unhappy with the situation, just still slightly shocked. Two years ago she had come to Colorado for the first time to deal with a brat of a newbie slayer. Now here she was with a man she was in love with, the only man she’d ever truly thought of as a father, and about to go kick ass with that same slightly less bratty slayer, and everything had changed. She put the thoughts aside for the moment to formulate a plan.

The intelligence Anna had gathered indicated that the nest was basing itself out of one of the older crypts in the nearby cemetery. Shades of Spike, Buffy thought to herself with only a minor twinge. 

The nest had grown quickly, so while their numbers had reached nearly thirty before Anna had begun thinning the herd, they were almost all relative newbies. It was only when the sheer numbers surrounded the junior slayer that she had been overcome and had finally had to make a run for it before she was hurt worse than she already had been. She had remembered the saying Buffy had drilled into her head, borrowed and adapted from an old Tony Curtis/Natalie Wood movie. Anna never would have thought she’d enjoy an old movie so much, but it turned out Buffy had good taste in movies, and the pie fight was the funniest thing she’d ever seen. She often wished there were some way to kill vamps by throwing pies at them ‘cause she thought that would make patrol a heck of a lot more fun. Probably fattening, but a heck of a lot more fun! It had been hard to make the decision to retreat, but she kept repeating the mantra in her head. Buffy’s first rule was to avoid getting dead, she didn’t want to let her mentor down and she also thought being dead would probably suck. Anna felt much better now having Buffy there to back her up and knew she’d made the right decision.

She tuned back into the program long enough to listen to Buffy’s plan. Since the vamps had already seen Anna, Jack and Buffy would play bait, the innocent young lovers out for a romantic stroll in the moonlight. 

Anna looked at Jack and raised her brows when Buffy said ‘young’ and Jack responded by sticking his tongue out at the teen.

“Thank you for proving my point kids.” Buffy rolled her eyes, then went straight back to business. “Anna, please stay back at first and stick very close to Uncle George, he’s about to see his first vamps ever tonight and as much as I’d rather he not tell the stories he’s dying to embarrass me with, I’d rather he not be dead even more, capiche?” She waited for the nod of agreement before she continued. “When the fighting starts, Jack will slide back to cover him and the perimeter and you can join me. Uncle George? I know you’re going to want to help, but it’ll really be easiest this time if you try to stay back and out of the fighting as much as possible.” She handed him a wooden cross and what looked like a powerful rifle, but felt plastic in his hands. “Use the cross first, that should keep them away. If that doesn’t work, the water gun is full of holy water. Vamps hate holy water, especially newbies. Bullets won’t work, none of the things you’re used to will work in this situation, the only things that will kill them for sure are a staking through the heart or decapitation. Take the stake just in case, but seriously, use it as a last resort. It would really help me if you try to stay under the radar as much as possible, okay?”

It was hard to stand back and let the child of his heart snap out orders, especially when the orders were for him to let her do the fighting while he sat back and watched. Still, he had watched her switch into fight mode, and since Jack seemed to trust that she knew what she was doing, he knew he had to do the same. “Just be careful please.”

“Always. I always say … “ She looked at Anna and the two girls recited in almost singsong unison, “She who fights and runs away will live to fight another day!”

Buffy grinned, “It’s nice to know that some lessons sunk into that hard head of yours.”

“Like, it fer sher totally takes one to know one!” Anna smirked. 

Laughing Buffy admitted, “You’ve got me there, kid. Now let’s get this taken care of so we can get some dessert and maybe a check up for you. I don’t like the looks of a couple of those wounds.” She had loaded everyone up on weapons as they spoke, so as soon as the words had left her mouth she thrust her arm through Jacks and started to drag him off. 

Anna opened her mouth to protest but realized the only one left to complain to was baldy. Shooting him a mutinous glare she muttered, “I _don’t_ need a doctor.”

George just smiled and gallantly offered her his arm, then patted the hand that rested there as they began to follow the first two. He’d seen enough of Buffy’s take charge attitude to realize that if Anna needed to see a doctor, she’d be seeing a doctor that night. He wasn’t going to start a battle he was never going to win and that he didn’t even need to be involved in.

Buffy took a moment to snuggle closer to her boyfriend before the vamps made an appearance. “So, is this how you dreamed of our first night back together playing out, or what?”

Jack chuckled low, “Right down to the two chaperones behind us.”

“Wishing you’d picked a ‘normal’ girl about now?” 

There was a tiny thread of seriousness in her voice that he knew her well enough to pick up on, so his response was serious. “Never.”

She smiled to herself. “I knew that, just wanted to hear you say it.”

“I told you I could teach you to fish!”

“Hey, I don’t mind fishing, I just prefer there to be actual _fish_ when I do.”

“That wasn’t exactly what I meant.”

“Oh dear. Did your point mess up my hair when it went over my head?” She fluffed the blonde strands, blinking laughing innocent eyes up at him.

“Brat.”

“Ahem.”

“My brat.”

“That’s better, and don’t you forget it!”

“Forget what?”

“Smartass.”

“Ahem?”

She grinned. “My sm-oops, looks like we have company. Act like you love me and stuff.”

“And stuff? I’m not sure this is the place for that.”

“Jack!”

“Hey, this is me acting like I love you. It’s might be hard for you to tell cause it’s how I always act.” Nonetheless, he had cuddled her closer, nuzzling while making sure he didn’t block her arms or any weapons.

“Probably a lookout,” Buffy muttered into his neck. “Keep with the smoochies until we can draw a few more out.”

“Whatever the slayer wants.”

She giggled. “Wow, I’m gonna hafta mark this on a calendar!”

* * *


	13. Leave it to the Girls ...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which the author shows that she's better at romantic comedy than action ... ;)
> 
> Happy Thanksgiving, ya'll!

* * *

George watched the couple canoodling in the moonlight and tried to force his fists to unclench. It didn’t matter that they were doing in solely for the equivalent of an undercover op. It didn’t matter that he had managed to make it through dinner and after dinner conversation watching the two of them together. All that mattered at this moment in time was the intense desire to kick Jack’s ass. He knew he was probably acting like an insane father, but he just couldn’t help it. It was still hard to watch Liz with her husband and they’d been married going on ten years.

“Hey Daddy Warbucks, you gonna be okay?”

He’d barely remembered the teenager whose hand still rested on his sleeve. George patted her fingers again and looked away from the couple silhouetted against the night in front of them, noticing for the first time the figures beginning to gather from all angles. 

Anna must have read the misgivings on his face. “Don’t worry, Buffy’s the best there is, and with me here to back her up this’ll be a piece of … mmm, apple crispy thing. Sounds better than cake right now, doesn’t it?”

“Mmm.” The reply was absent, he was so focused on keeping himself from shouting to Buffy. He had been in the military for his entire adult life and had never had this kind of problem watching action. George concentrated on watching Jack’s face, when it wasn’t busy kissing Buffy that is. Jack looked almost completely relaxed with only a hint of underlying alertness and George used that to calm himself down. He knew Jack O’Neill, and while he was a good poker player, he wasn’t _that_ good. If this was about to go FUBAR, Goerge would be able to tell. He hoped.

On the one hand, Buffy was really enjoying the way Jack’s talented mouth was working down her jaw. On the other hand, it was probably giving the - she stretched her senses out for a minute - seven vamps now surrounding them a lot of ideas. “Babe?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t forget where you were, okay? I expect you to pick this up as soon as we can ditch the chaperones.”

“The vamps or Anna and Hammond?”

“All of them.”

“Does this mean I’m going to have to stop?”

“In just a second, they’re almost in position.”

“Dumb bad guys.”

“I promise to make it up to you.”

He heaved a sigh. “Well if you promise…”

She dropped a kiss on his head. “On three? One … Two …” 

“Be careful.”

“Always, you too, k? … Three.”

Buffy sprung back with a flying kick that drove the heel of her boot into the chest of the vamp behind her. She smiled as she heard bones snap. She could feel Jack’s movement behind her as he got into the action and hoped he’d remember the plan, even with all the fun she knew he had fighting the undead, it really wasn’t his job or his fight. Buffy staked the vamp coming in fast behind her without turning, one foot holding down the first one she’d kicked. She threw a punch at a third, then quickly leaned down to stake the one on the ground, using the fourth vamp’s own momentum to let him sail over her back as she did. She reached over to stake the new one on the ground, then stood just in time to re-angle the stake for the female hurtling towards her. Buffy reached out with her slayer senses, something that had been developing more over her years of training and honing her skills. Jack must have taken down at least two before swapping out with Anna, and now the two girls were fighting facing away from each other. Luckily the younger girl had been spot on with her assessment. The nest had numbers, but absolutely no skill to back it up. They actually seemed to be getting in each others way at times, making them that much easier to kill. Buffy wished her fights were always this easy.

She took a second to push a few strands of hair out of her face that had come loose, and watch Anna before the next wave arrived.

“You doin okay?”

Anna fought the last of the first batch with slayer strength, most of the speed Buffy usually saw in her fighting style spent on her first fight of the night and her body trying to heal its injuries.

“Fine,” she gasped as the demon landed a heavy blow to her abdomen.

“Okay, well then could you stop dropping that shoulder? We’ve talked about this.”

Anna rolled her eyes, deliberately holding one shoulder up as she staked the vampire. “That better?”

“Just trying to help pass the torch to the next generation. Hopefully I didn’t pass the tendency to drop that shoulder in the first place. Giles was always on my case for doing the same thing.” Buffy bounced on the balls of her feet a few times, keeping the energy flowing. “The ones that were hiding ran back to the nest so we should be seeing reinforcements anytime now.”

“Oh. Joy.”

Buffy reached out again, feeling several vamps moving closer from about a hundred feet away. She looked over to the small rise where Jack and George stood, and shot them a quick wave, relieved to see them both safe.

“Anna, you still with me? We’ve got more on their way.”

“I’m peachy.” She was panting slightly, but sounded ready otherwise, and when Buffy looked over, she was straightening from where she’d been resting with her hands on her knees. Buffy could already see blood staining through the bandages she’d applied and moved the talk of seeing a doctor from the possible column into the definite. She wanted to get the fight over with and get Anna checked out as soon as possible, even with slayer healing helping out she didn’t like the looks of a few of those wounds and Buffy’d learned that it was better safe than sorry. She would have preferred to remove Anna from the fight altogether, but she knew the younger girl would never go for it without an argument that they didn’t have time for.

The new wave of vamps seemed to come out of nowhere - or would have if Buffy’s senses hadn’t been developed to the point they were and she hadn’t constantly been aware of them on some low level. The first, an 80’s looking reject, flew at her, knocking her onto her back. Buffy used the momentum to throw him off and roll to her feet without even thinking about it. “Well, that move was about as original as the suit you’re wearing.” She shook her head, making tsking noises with her tongue. The vampire ran at her, silently furious, only to be stopped with the stake she held in front of her. Buffy looked down at the fine layer of dust on her shoes and sighed. “No fun vamp banter,”-she casually backfisted the vampire trying to sneak up behind her, knocking him to the ground-“no good fighting,”-she staked another easily-“smoochie interruptus,”-she paused, landing a series of blows on a new opponent-“and now my shoes are all ‘Miami Vice’ jacket dusty.” She leaned forward and used the female in front of her to balance as she delivered a roundhouse kick, right into the face of another. She looked into the yellow eyes of the woman she’d leaned on. “Tonight just totally blows.” She swung the stake. “Hey look! Now you do too!” She staked the last two of the group that had come at her.

“Buffy? You think you could stop with the chatting and up the stakeage?” Anna sounded even more out of breath now, but she was still fighting hard.

“Everybody’s a critic.” Buffy was ready to be done with this fight. The vamps were so painfully untrained it almost seemed unfair to stake them, and Anna was definitely tiring. She looked around and found a cluster of tackily dressed men and women about ten feet away. How come the vamps always seemed to be fashion victims? They were obviously at a loss of what to do in this situation. Buffy ran a few steps and flew into a handspring, landing in the middle of the group of five. She looked around at the suddenly scared faces and asked perkily, “Waiting for me? You really didn’t have to, I woulda just jumped in if you’d started without me!”

Anna let out a cry and Buffy’s head instantly whipped around. Anna seemed to recover from the painful blow and get back into the fight, although there was now blood running down her arm from under one of the bandages. The distraction gave one of Buffy’s opponents enough time to land a blow to her midsection and a sharp uppercut as she turned back. Her head snapped to the side as her hand automatically caught the third blow before it could land. Using the thrust of the blow she pulled her attacker past her and flipped him to the ground. “Ow, that hurt you jerk! Ooh, somebody’s trying to be all ‘big vamp on the block’. Sorry, I know big bad, and you ain’t even close.” Her foot lashed out in a series of kicks aimed at the two closest to her and then she was ducking and twisting as they for the first time seemed to work together to fight her off. The first one had clambered to his feet and came up behind her, getting one arm around her throat and licking her neck as she dealt a dusting blow to one of the group. Buffy temper immediately shot through the roof. “Excuse ME, but that was disgusting! I’m gonna kill you sooo deader for that one.” Using one hand to keep it’s fangs away from her throat, she used the vamp in front of her to ‘walk’ up, getting her feet on either side of it’s head. Holding the arm around her throat and squeezing the other vampire’s head between her ankles, she gave a fierce twist of her body and sent all three of them sprawling. Not even bothering with small talk, she immediately crawled on top of the mad licker and forcefully shoved the stake through his chest. She dropped down a few inches as the body turned to dust, then turned to the other one on the ground. He scrambled back, but not fast enough to escape. 

Buffy climbed to her feet. “Three stooges down, two to go, who’s next?” The two vampires left looked at Buffy, looked at each other, and as one turned tail and ran. “Damn. Now I hafta chase you first? Why don’t you just come back and throw yourselves on my stake like good little vamps.” She glanced over at Anna to make sure she was holding her own with her last two, then took off after the retreating figures when it looked like she was. Buffy easily caught up to the two fleeing vampires running through the woods bordering the cemetery. Jumping up she caught a low hanging branch and swung to kick the first one in the back, knocking him to the ground. As soon as she saw that he was down she turned on the female before she could get any farther away. Punch, block, kick, stake … and another one bit the dust. She turned to see the last one had gotten back to his feet and was running again. Hefting her stake she sent it spinning end over end until it pinned the vampire to a tree, momentarily. The dust had barely settled before she was yanking the stake out of the tree and heading back to where the fight had started.

Anna was down to one when she reached the clearing, and Buffy stood back so she wouldn’t distract the younger girl. It was only another minute or two before Anna found her opening and staked the last vampire. Buffy closed her eyes a moment, feeling the air around them. Opening them again, she looked at Anna and smiled. “Good work kid, that feels like the last of them.” Anna visibly wilted at the news and Buffy quickly walked to her side. “Let’s go home and get you patched up and fed. If you’re lucky there may even be some chocolate syrup you can desecrate the apple crisp with.” She looked up and gave a thumbs up to the guys as they made their way up the hill. Jack was already on his way to meet them, and as he reached them carefully picked Anna up in his arms. She made a token protest, then gratefully rested her head on his shoulder. He met Buffy’s eyes, silently asking her if she was okay. Buffy smiled back re-assuringly and rested one hand on Anna’s back as they climbed the hill to where a shell-shocked George still stood.

Buffy gently took her godfather’s elbow and turned him to where the cars waited. “C’mon Uncle George, time to go home.”

* * *


	14. Sympathy-Tenderness ...

* * *

Buffy helped Anna carefully out of the truck and aimed them both for the house. Meeting Jack’s concerned glance she shook her head and instead tilted her head to where her godfather was climbing out of Anna’s car. Jack nodded, unlocking the house door for the two girls to enter, then dropping back to meet Hammond. Buffy hoped that he would be able to reassure the older man in a way she couldn’t.

Anna moved slowly as she was helped into the house and up the stairs to the spare bedroom. Buffy tossed aside her coat and grabbed an old beach towel to put on the bed before she had the younger girl sit down, then carefully helped her out of her now ruined heavy sweater, leaving her in a tank top and soft track pants. Buffy chided her gently for not wearing a jacket in the first place, teasing a tiny smile onto Anna’s face. Removing the bandages she had recently wrapped, Buffy was glad to see that some of the smaller injuries were already looking better, although there were still a few she didn’t like the looks of. Taking the soiled wrap to throw away in the hall bathroom, she paused in her ministrations to slip downstairs. Interrupting the men for only a minute, she was quickly back upstairs again, knowing that Jack would take care of the other task for her. She ran warm water onto a washcloth and then re-entered the guest room, grabbing a handful of sterile gauze pads from the hall closet on her way.

Anna was staring into space, her eyes drowsily closing every few seconds, taking longer each time to re-open. Buffy knew that she was probably suffering from shock from the blood-loss and kicked herself again for letting Anna back into the fight. The more time she spent with the mini-Slayers, the more she appreciated how hard of a job Giles had had all those years. Every time she had to send a girl out to fight it was difficult, especially when it was someone like Anna who’d become so close.

Buffy sat the washcloth down and started ripping off the tape on the bandages, pressing the gauze pads against the worst of the still bleeding wounds and trying to staunch the blood a bit before she worked her way up to them. Once that stopgap measure was in place she decided to start from the top and reached for a brush sitting on the dresser. Gently she stroked it through the long pale blonde hair of the girl sitting in front of her, taking a moment to sooth and relax them both as she brushed away snarls and debris. Anna’s eyes slipped all the way closed. After a moment Buffy put down the brush and unclipped her own hair, using the barrette to pin Anna’s hair out of the way. Picking up the still warm washcloth, she smoothed it over the battered face, washing away blood, dirt and vampire dust so she could get a better look at the injuries underneath. The knot on her head was still swollen, but seemed to have almost stopped bleeding. Buffy looked from the now filthy washcloth to the rest of the grime and blood on the younger girl and mentally chastised herself for not being better prepared. She knelt to unlace the grubby cross trainers and slip them off unresisting feet, then spread the towel out on the bed a little farther.

“Sweetie? I’m going to let you lay down here for a minute while I gather up some more supplies, okay?”

“M’kay.” Anna sighed, her eyes still closed.

“So you can lay down now.”

“M’kay.”

Buffy smiled and shook her head. One hand held the younger girl’s head and the other cradled her back as she lay her out on the bed. Anna’s sock clad feet were still on the floor, but she looked comfortable enough for the time being and Buffy knew from experience that sometimes slayer healing worked best with a little rest.

Moving between the master suite bathroom, the one in the hall and the closet, Buffy gathered up the medical supplies she figured they’d need, piling them in the hall outside the guest room so she could let Anna rest for a few minutes. She took a minute to slip out of her shoes and pick her coat up off the floor, then quickly descended the stairs again to see how dessert had fared. She figured that the sweet would be good for Anna, both for morale and to help her blood sugar level.

Jack entered the kitchen as Buffy was opening the oven and pulling out the lukewarm casserole dish. “How’s she doing?”

Buffy peeled back the foil covering. “She’ll be okay, but I think there are a few places that will take a few days to recover from. I don’t know what she got speared with, but she has a pretty deep wound on her arm, a gash on her side I really don’t like, and a couple more that actually might need a couple stitches.”

His mouth tightened and Buffy looked back to the pan in front of her. “I know, I know, I never should have let her back out there with me. I knew she was banged up, but I didn’t realize how bad she was, or that I probably could have contained the problem by myself.”

Jack’s hand cradled her jaw as he forced her to look at him. “Buffy, this wasn’t your fault.”

“Then whose fault was it?”

“The vampires, the powers that be, the universe maybe, but you didn’t cause her to get knocked around.”

Buffy sighed. “Then why does it feel like I did? Why does it feel like I screwed up every time I lose one? I did this, Jack. I made them Slayers. How is it _not_ my fault?”

He pulled her into his arms, remembering her mentioning in Hammond’s office the losses over the time he’d been gone. “You’re only one person, and you can’t be everywhere at once. You fight the battles you can, you help train the girls as much as possible, and then you have to let them fight their own battles. You feel responsible because you’re a good person. You care about the people around you, and you know how to take responsibility. Unfortunately sometimes you take responsibility for things that you have no control over. This is one of those times. It’s _not_ your fault.” 

Jack pulled away from her far enough to tilt his head down and gently nuzzle her lips with his. Her head tipped back and her lips melted into his as they deepened the kiss, arms holding each other tight. After a minute they reluctantly pulled back, each leaning forward to press whisper soft and swift afterthought kisses on each others lips. Buffy leaned her forehead against his and sighed again. “You know, you’re really good at this reassuring thing. Did it go as well with Uncle George?”

Jack considered for a minute. “Well he’s not quite as good of a kisser, but other than that …” he pulled quickly away as she swatted at him.

“There’s a mental picture I _really_ didn’t need, and hey, way to ruin the mood.” She tried not to, but giggled anyway, just as Jack had intended.

He smiled at the cheerful sound. “I think he’ll be okay. It’s a lot to take in in one night but he’s already had his mind good and expanded by the Stargate, so if anyone was going to be open to something like this, it makes sense that it would be him. I think right now the biggest issue is the danger for you. Watching you kick ass tonight helped set his mind at rest in some ways, but it’s still not easy to see. Seeing Anna injured and knowing how many times you’ve _died_ probably didn’t help much either.” Jack paused, adding sarcastically, “I know how much I always enjoy hearing those stories myself.” He tried not to dwell on the subject. “Give him a day or two to absorb everything and I think he’ll be on board.”

Buffy touched his arm and smiled. “Thank you, you were a big help tonight if I didn’t already mention it. You still feeling okay? No withdrawal from the sarcoffee thingy symptoms or anything right?”

“Nope, I’m good to go.” He leered at her and she rolled her eyes as she turned back to the container, picking up a small apple slice and popping it into her mouth. It crunched a little too much, so she replaced the foil, slid the whole thing back into the oven and turned it back on.

“Now why did they think you wouldn’t have those symptoms?”

“Dunno. Janet tried to explain it to me, but after she said she didn’t think it would be an issue I sorta tuned everything else out.”

Buffy could understand his reasoning, it was very similar to how she dealt with doctors as well. She was just getting ready to return to her own patient when there was a knock on the front door.

“That was fast.” He went to answer the door and Buffy paused to rinse the apple, brown sugar and oat crumbs from her fingers. She could hear a woman’s voice greeting Jack as she walked toward the front hall.

Brown eyes sparkled as they found Buffy’s. “There’s the lady of the day.” She was pulled into a tight hug. “I had to stay late to get all the bizarre stories floating around about your visit since I knew you’d want all the dirt. I’m sorry I missed you.”

Buffy smiled then almost instantly scowled in remembered ire. “I’ve got a bone to pick with you. Don’t you _ever_ answer your phone?”

Janet Frasier rushed into speech, almost tripping over her words in her haste. “I know, I’m so sorry, I just didn’t know what to say. I kept thinking I’d call you as soon as I knew something and that just kept taking longer and longer. Then SG-11 got into trouble and I was on base for almost a week with their injuries. Cassie’s calling me the invisible mom these days, from what I hear you’ve talked to her more than I have recently.” The doctor was a very different person outside of her role as chief medical officer of Stargate Command and could almost give Buffy competition when it came to babbling.

Jack tried to smooth things over by quickly changing the subject. “How is Cassie? I’m surprised she didn’t come with you.”

“She wanted to when I told her Buffy was in town, but she has a major history test tomorrow and if she doesn’t study it won’t be pretty.”

George had left the living room at the knock and now made his presence known. “Does everyone know about this except me?”

“Sir!” The doctor’s eyes rounded as she looked from her boss to Jack to Buffy in surprise.

“Not everyone Uncle George, just those whose medical expertise we need from time to time before we kill them for withholding information. ‘Sides, how many doctors do you know who’ll actually make house calls?” Buffy grinned impishly, then took Janet’s coat from her and handed it to Jack. “Can you put that away babe and check the oven in about fifteen minutes? I want to get Janet up to Anna and get her patched up as soon as possible.” She grabbed the redhead’s arm that wasn’t carrying a medical bag and pulled her towards the stairs.

As she was getting towed away Janet looked over her shoulder at her boss and stammered, “Um, excuse me sir.”

Hammond looked at his second in command. “You let those two get together? How is anyone else ever going to get a word in edgewise?”

“Sir, all due respect, I learned a long time ago not to get in the way of a determined woman, and those are two _very_ determined women.”


	15. Heroes & Friends ...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the likes and comments, always nice to be validated. ;)

* * * 

Janet glanced back at the two men as she and Buffy climbed the stairs. As soon as they had re-entered the living room and were out of sight she hissed to Buffy in shock, “ _Uncle_ George? You’re _related_ to our CO?” She shook her head. “Wait, don’t answer that now, that sounds like a long story. How’s Anna?”

Buffy bent to retrieve the items she’d piled outside the guest room door. “You’re darn right we’ll talk later, but Anna needs your doctory skills more than I need to vent right now.” She sighed. “I _think_ she’s doing a little better, but all that’s relative, you know? I figured she could use a little rest instead of me trying to poke at her. I left that ‘fun’ for you.”

Janet gently pushed the door open and her voice dropped in volume as she saw the girl sleeping on the bed. “God, Jack was right when he called, she doesn’t look good.”

Buffy raised an eyebrow. “That’s why we have a doctor on speed dial.” The two friends shared a glance full of concern then looked back at Anna.

“I can feel you two giving me a mom look.” Anna’s eyes didn’t open as she spoke, but her color had already improved and there was a small smile playing on her lips. She still sounded tired, but Buffy was glad to hear her closer to her usual self.

“Can’t help it, I am one, and Buffy’s pretty much mother to multitudes these days.” Janet opened her bag and began setting more supplies out among those that Buffy had assembled and placed on the bed.

Buffy stuck her tongue out at her friend and sat gingerly on the bed next to Anna’s head. Smoothing the pale blonde strands off the still bruised face she critically eyed the other girl’s injuries. “How are you feeling?”

“Abso-freakin-lutely craptastic.”

Janet smirked and said what the two older women were both thinking as she began removing yet another set of bandages. “We’ve _got_ to stop letting you hang out with Jack so much.”

The three women were mostly silent as Janet cleaned and bandaged the wounds. Although several were deep enough that she normally would have used sutures to close them and would be watching them closely over the next few hours, she’d become familiar enough with slayer physiology to know that they would probably close soon enough on their own with proper rest and care. From what Jack had described when he called her, it seemed like Anna had already begun to heal. The doctor watched the two girls interact. One of Anna’s hands had come up to rest on Buffy’s leg, assuring herself that the older girl was close even as Buffy stroked her hair and ran the tips of her fingers along Anna’s hairline and temples. Janet was always amazed at the care and compassion Buffy was able to show, even after so many years of torment that would turn anyone else off people altogether. Looking closer Janet could see the hints of dark circles beneath Buffy’s eyes and other subtle signs that showed how tired she was, but even now she was taking care of others first. Janet sighed to herself as she reached for another bandage for the last wound that needed dressing. “She’s going to need something to change into, is there anything here that would fit her?”

Buffy gently eased herself off the bed and crossed to the dresser. “Not a problem. Anna?”

“Hmm?”

“What do you want to put on? Do you just want something to sleep in and go to bed?”

“Nuh uh.” The girl’s eyes opened fully for the first time. “I was promised apple crisp with ice cream and chocolate sauce.”

Buffy grinned. “I would bring that up to you, you know. I think you’ve earned dessert in bed to say the least.”

“I know, but I want to get up for a bit. I think I have sweats in the bottom drawer there that’ll be loose enough even with the seventeen layers of gauze wrapped around me. Too bad it’s not Halloween yet, I could go as a mummy.”

Buffy was rifling through the drawer she’d pointed to. “Don’t you mean ‘thank you Janet, I appreciate you taking care of me’?”

“Oh, yeah. Thank you Janet, I appreciate you taking care of me.” She grinned at the doctor then asked Buffy, “That better?”

“Good girl, you can have dessert now.” Buffy winked as she tossed the loose fleece pants and sweatshirt on the bed before carefully helping Anna to a sitting position. Cautiously she helped her lift off the torn and dirty tank top, carefully avoiding jostling the bandages and scrapes. By the time Janet had cleaned up the makeshift exam room, Anna had been changed into the soft clean clothes and was looking a little more bright-eyed.

“You ready to go see if Jack’s managed to burn dessert?”

“He better not have if he knows what’s good for him,” Anna pouted.

Buffy wrapped an arm around Anna and helped her ease to her feet, Janet’s arm steadying her on the other side. They helped her limp down the hall and start to descend the stairs, gently teasing and cajoling the injured girl until she was laughing through her winces. They had only gotten about halfway down the stairs before Jack was there, carefully lifting her off her feet and carrying her to the living room where he helped her settle on the couch. Buffy followed behind them and quickly unfurled the chenille throw, tucking it around her and helping to arrange the pillows until Anna was cuddled into a nest on the end of the couch. 

George had gotten to his feet when they heard the women on the stairs and Jack had gone to help, and stood awkwardly, watching the trio and again trying to stay out of the way. He wondered for what seemed the hundredth time that night how so much could have been going on below his nose for so long without having even an inkling. Vampires and demons existed and were fought on a nightly basis by teenagers. His goddaughter was one of the people in charge of a world wide campaign and was so skilled of a fighter he thought she could give Teal’c a run for his money. She was also, he mentally gulped, in what seemed to be a very serious relationship with his friend, a man who, if someone had told George yesterday was in a loving, long term relationship George would have cheered for. Just … did it have to be with Buffy? He watched the couple fuss over the teenager on the couch and looked over to where his chief medical officer was watching the same scene with a smile on her face. Buffy and Jack had obviously found a family of their own and he knew he would be happy for them both. Eventually.

Buffy smoothed her hand over Anna’s shoulder and went to check the oven, taking Janet along with her to help. 

As soon as they arrived in the kitchen Janet hopped up to sit on one of the counters and stared silently at her friend with wide, eager eyes. The blonde rolled her eyes. “Here we go again.” She paused to pull the baking dish from the oven. “Okay, to sum up this amazingly ‘24’esque long day: first, I had no idea that Uncle George was your CO, second, until today I haven’t seen him since I was about twelve or thirteen, third, he’s not technically my uncle, he’s my godfather so we’re not related by blood, I’ve just always called him Uncle George and fourth …” She looked Janet square in the eye. “Fourth, you know I love you, but if something like this ever happens again I expect you to call me. Tell me there’s no news yet, tell me you’re not sure where he is, tell me you don’t know if he’s even alive, just tell me _some_ thing. Friends don’t let friends be driven insane by worry! This has been the most God-awful few weeks, and you going mute didn’t help.”

Janet slid down to cross and put her arms around Buffy, feeling sympathy tears gathering in her own eyes as she saw Buffy’s get bright. “I’m sorry, I really am. I know I should have done better, I really have no excuses except that I truly didn’t know what to say. I’m just glad you’re all home where you belong now.”

Buffy sniffled. “Did you really give Jack a clean bill of health?”

“I promise, every test I did came back perfect. The sarcophagus even healed some of his older injuries so all in all I think he came out of this amazingly well.”

Buffy smiled at her in relief, blinking rapidly to wick away the tears, giggling a little as she saw her friend doing the same. “Okay, I just wanted to make sure. You know how Jack skims over the details on things like that. And you know I can never stay mad at my red-head best friends, even when they really _really_ deserve it.”

“On behalf of the red-head best friends union, may I just say that we thank you for that? Having a slayer ticked at you is not our idea of a good time.”

Rolling her eyes Buffy began to gather bowls and spoons. “Yeah, and what would you know about having a good time? It’s called dating, Janet. You should really try it sometime.”

“Here we go again, nag nag nag.” Janet made a face, then started reaching for coffee mugs.

~~~~~

In the living room Jack had reluctantly stopped hovering and took a seat on the other end of the couch where Anna sat as George settled himself in the armchair across from them. He watched as Jack gently quizzed the girl on her schoolwork, friends, and someone named Todd, which made Anna roll her eyes, giggle, blush and squirm, respectively. 

By the time Buffy and Janet came back with trays of dessert Anna looked alert and her color had improved dramatically. Her eyes lit up as Buffy handed her chocolate syrup to go with the bowl of steaming Apple Crisp and rapidly melting ice cream. Buffy’s sneer of disgust was ignored with the skill of teenagedom. Janet passed around coffee and drinks while Buffy distributed the sweet and soon there was silence broken by the sound of spoons scraping the bowls, the occasional approving ‘mmm’ and Anna’s delighted giggles as she squeezed chocolate sauce over the concoction. Buffy had cuddled herself onto the couch next to Jack, and had one reassuring hand on the girl next to her even as she dug into her own dessert.

Buffy smiled at the Anna’s laugh, then looked up at Jack. “So, what did you find out about this Todd? Think we need to pay him a visit?”

Anna said, “Hey!” in protest even as Jack answered.

“I figure a back ground check would be in order first. Then we’ll talk about who gets to have a chat with him.”

Buffy ignored the sputters coming from the end of the couch. “Well I think I should get to of course.”

“Yeah, but I do big and scary better than you do. You’d hafta hurt him to put the fear of God into him.”

Buffy glared dangerously. “I have no problem with that. Besides, have I ever had any trouble scaring _you_?”

He smirked, “Depends on where we are.”

Buffy giggled as they shared a hot glance that made George duck his head until his nose was almost in his bowl.

“Way to help me have a personal life.” Anna scowled.

“Just looking out for you kid.” Buffy ruffled her hair.

“Gee, thanks. You really shouldn’t. _Really_.”

Buffy and Jack grinned at each other but she let him answer. “Oh, I dunno, I think we really should, and it seems to be two against one. Sorry, wish I could help.”

“Hey, if I ever let Cassie date, would you two be available to go with her? I think a double date with Uncle Jack and Aunt Buffy would be just the ticket.” Janet allowed herself a small snicker at the thought.

Jack looked at her. “We’ll talk about it when she’s thirty and old enough.”

“Sounds like a plan.” The three adults chuckled conspiratorially.

George didn’t look up from his bowl. “Speaking of which, I believe that means _you’ll_ be allowed to date in a couple years, Buffy.”

Anna laughed at Buffy’s stunned expression. “Way to go baldy! I _like_ you!”

Jack winced at the idea that he was dating someone Hammond looked at the way he saw Cassie and Anna and there was silence for a moment.

Buffy was the first one to notice the tiny grin of satisfaction playing on her godfather’s mouth. “You big faker, no fair guilt tripping my boyfriend!”

“Does he _have_ to be your boyfriend?” George asked plaintively.

“Yes.”

“Can I court marshal him?”

“No.”

“Can I make him do extra paperwork at least?”

Jack looked even more alarmed at the second threat and turned panicked eyes to Buffy.

“I’ll think about it.”

George grinned at the thought of finally having the upper hand.

Jack just groaned and buried his head in his hands.

* * *


	16. God Bless the Child

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beautiful passage Buffy quotes comes from Richard Bach's Illusions, one of my all time favorite books ... Enjoy!

* * * 

Scraping the bowl for the last remnants of apple and melted ice cream, Buffy licked her spoon and looked around the living room. Janet and George had begun filling Jack in on the non-classified things he had missed over the last six weeks and Janet repeated the story about Siler’s dancing to Anna and Buffy’s delight. Anna had finished her treat then rearranged herself on the couch until her head rested on Buffy’s shoulder, but her eyes were still bright as she watched Jack joke with his co-workers. Buffy handed her bowl off to her boyfriend to set on the coffee table and he looked down at the two blonde heads nestled together. He placed his bowl with Buffy’s on the tray, then leaned to brush Anna’s battered cheek.

“You look like you’re drooping there kiddo. Want some help up the stairs?”

Anna made a pouty sound and snuggled closer to Buffy. “Not yet, comfy.”

Jack grinned and sat back, nudging his girlfriend with his shoulder. “Wow babe, she sounds just like you.”

Anna didn’t need to raise her head to join in as Buffy blew him a raspberry.

“My girls are so eloquent.”

Janet cupped her coffee mug. “Why don’t I take Anna home with me for the night? I’ll send a doctor’s excuse for Anna into school with Cass tomorrow and make sure those injuries don’t need anything else then I can bring her back here on my way to the mountain in the morning.”

“Are you sure?” Buffy looked down at Anna and stroked her arm.

“Of course. Besides, you and Jack deserve a night to yourself.”

Buffy looked up at Jack and grinned before turning to Anna. “Would that be okay with you honey?”

“Kay. Janet makes better breakfast anyway.”

Buffy just laughed. “Way to think with your stomach hon.”

George had been watching the interplay in confusion. “Does Anna live here with you?”

“I wish. I keep telling Buffy they need to reinstate the whole thing where the Slayer lives with her Watcher.” Anna poked the girl next to her.

“So you’re her Watcher too?” George asked Buffy, feeling like his brain was moving slower than usual as it tried to process all the information it had absorbed that night.

“Nah, that would be Jack, unofficially. We’ve set up a system with the girls, kinda like one of those tree lists from the PTA. I thought I was getting out of dealing with that mess since Dawn was almost done with that by the time I got involved.” Buffy shook her head. “Anyway, the girls are all linked to the closest Slayers to them. The closest one to Anna is in Denver, then there’s another about two hours in the other direction, so while there’s some support, if Anna needs backup in a hurry she’s screwed. Whenever possible we try to find someone near the girl who can be her immediate back up. Call it a Big Brother or Sister for the Slayer. They usually have some battle training, cops, military, that kinda thing and have some experience with … we’ll say thinking outside the box. We try to keep them out of the fight for the most part, but they can help with weaponry, transportation, medical care, stuff like that. It’s not ideal, but it’s the best we can do right now until we’re able to recruit and train enough Watchers. Anna decided she wanted Jack as hers, even though he’s ‘out of town’ so frequently.”

“At least he doesn’t own any tweed.” Anna mumbled.

Buffy giggled, imagining Jack in tweed BDUs. “Amen, Sister!”

George pondered the information then asked the teen, “Do your parents know?”

Anna huffed in disgust. “Not so much. Sometimes I wonder if they even know they have a daughter, let alone a Slayer.”

“I’m sorry.” 

“Enh, whatever.” Anna waved it off before letting her arm drop back where in rested on Buffy’s knee. “I have Mama Buffy and Daddy Jack now. Screw those other guys.”

Buffy ran her hand soothingly down the younger girl’s hair, but still had a touch of admonition, “Anna.”

“I’m sorry but it’s true, you’ve been there more for me in the last two years than the woman who gave birth to me, and half that time you weren’t even in the same zip code.”

Buffy smiled sadly at the pain in her voice even as she pulled Anna carefully into her arms.

The other adults looked away as the two blonde heads came together again. Buffy murmured to her quietly. “Sometimes it’s just that we get to pick the family we want and that’s not so bad, right?”

“I guess.”

Buffy thought for a second, making sure she had the words right. “You know, Tara gave me this book once that had a quote in it that I’ve always remembered. ‘The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof.’ As long as we find each other, it just makes us appreciate each other even more.”

There was silence in the room as they all absorbed the thought, each thinking of the extended non-blood family in their lives, then Anna looked up at her. “That was a totally un-Buffy thing to say.” She smiled, “But I liked it.”

Buffy shrugged. “I’m like an onion. All layery and stuff.”

Jack chuckled. “Now there’s the Buffy we all know and love.”

She smiled up at him, then looked down at the girl in her arms in time to catch a jaw cracking yawn. “Uh oh, I think it’s definitely that time for you. You sure you don’t just wanna stay here tonight?”

“It’s okay, I’ll go to Janet’s and crash. Let you guys have your aloooone time.” She made a face. “Oh ew, that is so not what I want to picture.”

“Right there with you.” George rubbed his temples thinking of the good old days when he was only trying to banish the image of Siler’s impromptu ‘Risky Business’ reenactment. This was so much worse.

“I’ll run upstairs and get you some overnight stuff. You want anything in particular?” Buffy gently pushed Anna up enough to slide out from under her, then helped lay her back on the couch, now using Jack as a head rest.

“Uh uh, I can sleep in this, so maybe just my toothbrush and a change for the morning? Anything else I can probably borrow from Cassie.”

“Sounds good, I’ll be right back.” Buffy picked up the tray of empty bowls and carried it into the kitchen. Janet followed with the empty coffee cups, and Jack could hear their low murmurs as they worked together to clean up the kitchen. He looked at Anna and was relieved to note that some of the bruising was already fading, and the cut at the corner of her lip wasn’t nearly as angry looking as it had been. Slayer healing was, as far as he was concerned, one of the few perks these kids - he corrected himself - one of the few perks these _women_ received. From past experience he knew that within 24 hours just about all the bruising on Anna’s face would be gone. It might take a little longer with some of the deeper wounds, but nowhere near as long as it would if Daniel or he had the same injuries. More likely it would be Daniel, he decided, smirking at the thought. That is, if he hadn’t gone and ascended yet again. Jack hoped that he would be back in human form again soon, it had felt good to see him, even if it had been during Jack’s torture and he hadn’t exactly been at his best.

He heard Buffy jogging down the stairs, impressed that she would have the energy for that. Janet was still puttering in the kitchen, so Buffy rejoined her there, before both women re-entered the living room a few moments later. George had sat quietly while they were gone, still looking vaguely shell shocked, and Anna had closed her eyes, not quite asleep but not completely awake either.

“Okay kiddo, you’re all set. I got your sneakers out of the closet, is that okay? The shoes you were wearing tonight are a mess, help me remember tomorrow and we’ll toss them in the washing machine.”

Anna roused with some effort and sat on the couch. Buffy knelt in front of her to help slip her feet into the shoes and tie the laces but when Anna started to unwrap the throw from around her the older girl stopped her.

“You didn’t wear a coat tonight and you don’t have one here, so just wrap it around you so you don’t freeze out there.” She helped drape the blanket.

“California girl.”

“Pneumonia girl.” Buffy scoffed back.

Anna rolled her eyes. “But that’s, like, totally your favorite blanket.”

“And you’re, like, totally my favorite non frozen person. You’ll be coming back tomorrow, you can bring it back then, ok?”

“Kay.” Anna rubbed her cheek against the soft material.

Janet had retrieved her coat from the hall closet, completely at home in Jack’s house, and now stood in the doorway. “Ready to go?”

“Yep.” Anna stood, but before she could take more than a step Jack was up and scooping her into his arms for the third time that night. “I can walk, you know.”

“Humor me.”

Anna looked at the adults around her. “You know, I know I’m sposed to be a slayer and all girl power, kick ass, self sufficient and all, but it’s really kinda nice to let go and have other people take care of you sometimes.” She smiled and rested her head against Jack’s shoulder as Buffy tucked the chenille closer around her.

George, ever the gentleman, had once again risen to his feet. “It was nice meeting you Anna.”

“Same goes, Daddy Warbucks. We’ll hafta do it again sometime, but next time no vamps, kay?”

“That sounds good to me.”

Buffy smiled at her godfather and gestured him back to his chair. “We’ll be right back Uncle George, I just want to help get Anna settled safely in the car.” She followed as Jack carried the teen out of the living room. 

Janet said a rushed goodbye, then George was left alone in the living room as he listened to the commotion of the group heading out the door. His head was spinning with the information overload, but one thing was clear. George Hammond was amazed and astonished at the girl his goddaughter had become, but even more than that, he was so very very proud of her.

* * *


	17. Happy Talk, keep talkin' Happy Talk ...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At first the chapter title was going to be the Joe Jones song, You Talk too Much, which seemed right cause they blather on a lot in this one, but I decided that was kinda a downer. :P Instead we're borrowing from South Pacific, since:
> 
> You got to have a dream,  
> If you don't have a dream,  
> How you gonna have a dream come true?
> 
> We're bracing for a major storm, so hope you curl up and read this with some tea ...or cocoa... or the alcoholic beverage of your choice. ;)

George heard the door re-open but after a moment, when Buffy and Jack didn’t re-enter the living room and he couldn’t hear them moving around, he leaned around his chair to look into the foyer.

Jack and Buffy stood with their arms wrapped around each other, taking a minute together just inside the front door. One of Jack’s hands was buried in her hair and her hands had fistfuls of his shirt clenched in them. Buffy’s eyes were closed, but she looked like there was nowhere else on earth she’d rather be. Jack had eyes only for the woman in his arms. 

It had been a long, eventful day, but in that moment, even though he knew there would be moments he regretted it and moments he wanted to strangle Jack for being with the child he still remembered, George accepted that his goddaughter was in love with his friend, and that his friend was in love with his goddaughter. It was enough to make him smile as he watched the two, even as his eyes unexpectedly started to make the world foggy before he briskly brushed away the tears. It still didn’t mean that he had to accept that Buffy wasn’t his little girl anymore.

George sat back in his chair, needing a moment to compose himself and not wanting to disturb the couple’s privacy. A few moments later they made their way into the room and seated themselves back on the couch. This time he was proud that it didn’t even raise his blood pressure when Buffy pulled her legs up onto the couch and leaned into Jack’s arms.

Buffy smiled at her godfather as she rested her head against Jack’s chest. “How you doing over there?”

George didn’t even know how to answer that. Did he ask the multitudes of questions spinning around in his brain? Did he wrap her in cotton and find some place to put her, far away from the dangers and horrors of her world? Did he ask Jack what his intentions were? George mentally scratched the last question off the list, deciding that was probably one question he didn’t _want_ the answer to. And, while he would like to find a safe place for her far away from the danger, he knew that just wasn’t possible. Finally deciding that since he had to say _something_ , he would just speak from the heart. “I can’t believe that I’ve missed watching you grow into such a wonderful woman.” He felt the tears trying to well again. “I’m so proud of you Buffy.”

Buffy found her eyes damp … again. She rose and crossed to him, silently pulling him close and hugging him hard until they had to pull back to swipe at their wet faces, both chuckling a little as they did.

She reached for the box of tissues sitting on the side table and passed one to George before taking a few for herself and crossing back to the couch. Blowing a strand of hair out of her face Buffy shook her head and looked up at her boyfriend. “What a freaking rollercoaster this day has been. I think I’ve cried more today than I have the last six weeks with you doing your lost boy impression.”

Jack hugged her. “That’s probably why, babe. You’ve just been getting what needed to be done taken care of. You didn’t have time to absorb it all until all the danger was over. As usual.”

“See, this? This is why I keep you around.”

Jack grinned. “Well thank god I’m good for something!”

“Oh, you’re good for a _lot_ of things.” Buffy leered up at him, causing George to clear his throat uncomfortably. She looked over and grinned. “Seriously, I’m sure Janet could prescribe something for that throat Uncle George.”

“Just because I can accept that the two of you are in a relationship, doesn’t mean I want to see you two …” He trailed off and waved his hand. “Or hear you two talk about …” George shook his head, rubbing his temples again.

Buffy beamed at him, then turned the wattage on Jack. “Hey, he said he can accept that we’re together, maybe he won’t give you extra paperwork.”

“I never said that!” George protested.

“Thanks for reminding him.” Jack glared at them both.

Buffy waved away his ire and asked George. “So, do you have any questions?”

He just looked at her. “Do I have any … ? Oh, I don’t know, one or two maybe.”

“That was sarcasm! Wow honey, I made Uncle George go all sarcastic man!”

“I don’t know if that’s really a good thing Buffy.”

She sighed and looked back at her godfather. “Should I ask what your _first_ question is instead?”

“I don’t even know where to start. Ah, you told me about what you’ve been through, but I guess you haven’t really talked much about how you’re doing now. I suppose I’ve seen some of your life tonight, but how do you keep going? You’ve been doing this for a dozen years?”

“Hard to believe, right? Honestly if you’d asked me a few years ago, the answer would have been really different. After Sunnydale life seemed to just go faster and faster and there was always so much to do. I spent all my time traveling, never had any time for my friends or Dawn. If I’d been in the corporate world I probably would have said I was on my way to a burnout. Unfortunately Slayers don’t usually get to have burnouts and relax at some spa type place with masseurs named Sven. We get tired and then some stupid vamp hits us when we’re down and that’s all she wrote. 

“Willow and Xander and I never really had time to recover our relationship and then we had all the girls and recreating the Council and we were all stressed about our own things. Giles and I probably did the best at finding each other again out of everyone, but that’s because we worked at it and since we pretty much run things together we’re always having to talk about something. That doesn’t work too well when you’re ticked off at each other, and sometimes we still wind up in the Slayer/Watcher rut when he thinks he can order me around. For a while I tried to call him Charlie when he would call with some new assignment.” She paused and rolled her eyes. “Then I had to explain to him who Charlie’s Angels were.” Buffy smiled fondly at the memory then forced herself to stop rambling. “Anyway. Through it all Dawn was trying to be a teenager, which is something I really wanted for her.”

Jack smirked and that was enough to have her defending herself. “So maybe teenager Dawn wasn’t always easy.” Jack opened his mouth, only to find it covered by Buffy’s hand. “Okay, a lot of the time it wasn’t easy, and I was lucky enough to only have to endure it by phone for the most part. Poor Giles got the brunt of it, but she’s grown into a pretty good person despite all that. Finally.”

Jack kissed her palm and she smiled up at him, gently smoothing his cheek then dropping her hand back to her side.

“What changed?” George asked.

“Oh, God. A lot. This is gonna give Jack a big head, but he’s had a lot to do with the changes in my life. I never had anyone who understood what it’s like to be in charge. What it’s like to know that because of a decision you make, someone may not come home from a mission. The others … well, that was never their call. Usually they thought it was their job to give me crap about why my plan was bad, or what went wrong. I’m not going to say that I was always selfless, that all my plans were good or that I always made the right decisions, because I know I wasn’t, they weren’t and I didn’t. But, good or bad, I was the one who had to make the call. One of the awful things about growing up is that you have to learn to make your own choices and your own mistakes. With most teenagers, sleeping with your first boyfriend doesn’t mean that people die. But … I was a kid with this enormous responsibility and an expiration date on my life. I did stupid stuff, I paid for it, and now I’ve finally started to learn how to forgive myself for it all.” Buffy shook off the negative feelings. “Anyway, meeting Jack and being able to talk about a lot of it to someone who understood, that helped in ways I couldn’t even imagine. Having someone always in my corner, supporting me, encouraging me, giving me grief if he didn’t agree with something …” She looked up at him and grinned. “A _lot_ of grief at times … it meant that I had resources. You know how they always say on airplanes that in an emergency you hafta put the air mask on yourself before you can save anyone else? It was like that. I spent all my time trying to take care of everyone else and I was running out of air. Jack made me put the mask on.” Buffy paused and grinned. “Hey! That metaphor even worked that time, yay me!”

George couldn’t begin to imagine any child being put in that situation, especially not Buffy, who when he’d known her last was starting to drift farther into _Clueless_ territory by the day. He knew seasoned veterans who still second guessed battlefield decisions they had made. He knew if he didn’t change the subject quickly he would be reaching for the tissue box again. “What do your friends think of you and Jack?” 

She ducked her head sheepishly. “They kinda don’t know.”

He was confused. “I thought you said you’d been together two years and spent all this time together?” He could see Jack nudging her.

“I know, I know.” She batted away Jack’s hand. “At first it was because of my track record. I have - actually I should say I _used_ to have - really terrible taste in men. When my relationships went down in flames they pretty much burned the town down, no pun intended, so when Jack and I first started dating I didn’t want to jinx it and I didn’t want to hear from my friends what a terrible mistake I was making.”

“You did tell Willow finally,” Jack reminded her.

“Only cause you made me.” She rolled her eyes and looked back at her godfather. “When I told Jack about the whole portal thing and being dead for a little while-“

“Five months.” Jack interjected flatly.

“Okay, so I was dead for five months-“

“And didn’t tell me.”

“I didn’t _know_ you when that happened, babe.”

“You know what I mean.” He looked at Hammond. “We’d been together for almost a year before she told me about that one, then she drops it on me as if it’s no big deal.”

“Well it’s not something that just comes up in casual conversation. I don’t go around saying ‘Hi, my name’s Buffy and I’ve been dead three times.’” She mimed a group around her cheerfully responding, “Hiii Buffy!”

This argument had obviously been had before so he subsided with only a grumbled, “You _still_ shoulda told me.”

“I promise I’ll tell you first thing if it ever happens again, okay?”

He glared. “ _Not_ funny.”

“Sorry sweetie.” She stroked his arm soothingly for a moment, turning to George to continue her story. “Anyway, when Jack found out he kinda freaked a little since he realized that none of my friends would know to get in contact with him if anything weird happened again. So, we made a deal, I told Willow, figuring she’d be able to use magic to get to him, even if he was on the base or somewhere difficult to reach by normal channels, and he told Daniel in case anything happened to _him_.”

“Who kinda already knew.”

“And yet he still left me in limbo for six weeks.”

“He ascended!”

Buffy glared. “I don’t want excuses, that probably means he could have found me even easier!”

George watched the two bickering again. It was nice to see someone go toe to toe with Jack … while curled up practically in his lap. He decided to break it up when it was starting to look less like an argument and closer to foreplay. “How did Janet find out?”

The two looked up, vaguely surprised to see a third party in their living room. Jack fielded this question. “I was out patrolling with Anna and wound up needing medical help.”

“He got his ass kicked.” Buffy smirked.

Jack rolled his eyes but was unwilling to dispute the truth after all the squabbling they’d been doing already. “As I was saying, medical help was needed, so I had to call Janet. We did the whole cover story thing, but the cover story sucked so it didn’t take Janet long to get to the truth. Since then she’s been a big help and it turns out Anna and Cass go to the same school and have gotten to be good friends.”

“As you probably figured out, Anna’s home life is pretty crappy, so between Janet and Cassie and Jack and I, we try to give her the family support she doesn’t have.”

George couldn’t help thinking the worst. “Are her parents abusive?”

“Nothing like that, they’re just ... a lot like the Joyce and Hank you knew when we lived in LA., before mom and I moved and we both mellowed out and figured out what was important in life. Anna’s parents are very superficial, very self involved. When I first met Anna she was such a little brat I was about ready to knock her down. Jack pretty much did.” She giggled at the memory.

“You make me sound like a creep who beats up kids when you put it that way and that’s so far from the truth.” Jack sulked. “Besides, she knocked me down first.”

Buffy winked at him and continued on. “I saw a lot of myself in her. That’s probably why we had such a hard time getting along the first few months after I came here to train her. I’m glad to say she’s really changed.”

“Buffy’s wonderful with her. It’s obvious how much Anna looks up to her.”

“You are, too.” She looked at George. “He’s the most overprotective father figure with her. I’m amazed she was brave enough to try dating this Todd guy. Vamps don’t scare her, but dating should.”

There was a faint blush riding along the ridges of Jack’s cheekbones. “I can’t help it. She’s come so far and he better not hurt her. She got early acceptance to Northwestern and almost a full scholarship. She was barely passing when Buffy started working with her.” He bragged.

“Okay, enough already. If I let you talk much more you’ll be pulling out photographs and boring Uncle George with a blow by blow of her test scores.” Buffy was teasing him, but the fact was she couldn’t have been prouder herself. She felt like Anna would almost be attending her alma mater when she went off to Northwestern, even though Buffy herself had never been able to attend.

“What will happen when she leaves for college?” George asked.

“Other than Jack having a heart attack?” She smirked, then backed off after seeing her boyfriend’s unhappy expression. “In terms of Anna’s slayage, it’ll actually be a lot easier for her. We have so many slayers in the Chicago area we have a house set up and a housemother type watcher-in-training in place. She’ll be able to live and train with the other girls, patrol together on a rotating schedule, the whole nine. That house has only been in place about a year, but so far the system seems to be working. We have about 20 houses like that spread out over the world and for the most part they all work well. The girls who are in school are able to keep up much better than I ever was when I was juggling classes, homework and apocalypses every other week and the fact that they’re not overworked and have back up reduces the danger.” She stopped, then amended herself. “As much as possible.”

“And what about the supernatural population here?”

“Believe it or not, that’ll go down a little over time without a slayer here full time. The baddies are drawn to slayer energy, and since there isn’t a Hellmouth here to attract them, things will be calmer in general. I’ll of course still be here a lot, but not full time, so less good energy means less bad. Weird, right? Anyway, for the ones that do stick around or show up, I’ll do a little more patrolling when I’m in town. Jack keeps wanting me to let him use vamps as a training exercise for some of your guys, but so far the military and Buffy have been unmixy things for sure. Wow, I’m total exposition girl tonight, aren’t I? This is gonna make for a seriously boring chapter when I write my memoirs. Betcha I don’t get many reviews at all for this one.” She laughed at herself.

Jack snorted. “You’d have to market that in the fiction section, otherwise no one would believe it.” They smirked at each other.

“I want to help.” The words came out of George’s mouth as if he’d been holding them in all night. 

“Cool, you’ve gotten into the publishing world now?” Buffy grinned at her godfather.

He rolled his eyes and ignored her smartass quip to pursue his original point. “Even if you don’t want the military involved, you still don’t have to fight this without help, and definitely not in this town. There are plenty of people that are as trustworthy as Jack and Janet and myself who would want to help if they knew what was going on.”

“Yeah, and it’s not like Teal’c ever gets a good workout anywhere else! I’d love to put him up against a group of vamps.” Jack grinned. “Of course what I’d like even more is to get Buffy sparring with Teal’c.”

“And when would you mention her enhanced abilities?” George asked knowingly.

“After she kicked his ass and made me a fortune from betting on her of course! Isn’t that how the story goes?” Jack could barely contain his glee.

Buffy rolled her eyes as she could see the idea infect her boyfriend’s supposedly more mature commanding officer. Of course her scorn at their scheme didn’t mean that the idea didn’t intrigue her … but that would have to be a thought for another day.


	18. Everything's Alright

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, we've come to the end of this story, but there are a couple more in the series that I'll post here if there's interest... (Yep, that was me asking for reviews, I'mma ho.) ;)
> 
> Gracie's MotS Chapter Title Playlist:  
> Feels like the First Time - Foreigner  
> Cheers theme song - (did you know there are like three verses?)  
> I've got you Under my Skin - Sinatra  
> Rubber Duckie - Sesame Street  
> When I'm 64 - Beatles  
> Tell It Like It Is - Aaron Neville  
> Our Story Goes On - The musical Baby (love!)  
> He Shouldn't-A, Hadn't-A, Oughtn't-A Swang On Me! - Henry Mancini for the movie The Great Race (if you've never seen it, watch it, trust me!)  
> Leave it to the Girls - Annie Warbucks the musical (one of my favorite numbers to perform ever)  
> Sympathy-Tenderness - Frank Wildhorn from the musical Jekyll & Hyde  
> Heroes & Friends - Melissa Etheridge (Also wrote the song Map of the Stars)  
> God Bless This Child - Billie Hoiliday  
> Happy Talk - South Pacific  
> Everything's Alright - Jesus Christ Superstar  
> (And no, I never intended so many to come from musicals but *shrug* when it works, it works!)
> 
> Quote in this chapter credit to Airplane! which is always good for a re-watch. ;)
> 
> And finally, it's a really weird season friends. Be nice to yourself, and get through it however makes the most sense to you. If that means watching every single Christmas movie and decorating your house, awesome. If that means huddling under your covers and pretending it's not the holidays, that's okay too. It's 2020, there's no "right" way to do anything. Just be safe. <3
> 
> Thanks for reading!

* * *

Hammond finally left, with much hugging of his goddaughter, promises to see each other soon and a few more tears. He would have more questions as soon as his brain was able to process all that he had learned that night, but for now he was desperate for some mindless sleep.

Buffy stood in front of Jack in the doorway, his arms wrapped around her waist and his chin on her shoulder as they watched George make it safely to his car and pull out. The red taillights were still in sight when Jack pulled her back into the house, shut the door, and backed her up against it crowding his body close to hers. One eyebrow rose as she looked up at him. 

“Was there something I could help you with?” She inquired innocently.

He growled and slid his mouth along the cords of her neck, letting his teeth gently bite at her jugular.

She shivered at the sensation and felt goose bumps race down her side. “Why grandma, what big … teeth you have.”

“Ya sure, ya betcha little girl.” His grin was wolfish indeed as he bent his knees, placed his shoulder to her stomach, and stood up with her draped over his shoulder giggling.

“Jack, be careful you’re going to hurt yourself!” She watched the stairs go by beneath her from her upside down position.

“First you call me grandma, then you insult my strength. Are you trying to tell me something?” He walked into their bedroom and flopped her onto their bed.

Buffy looked up at him, her hair spread around her, her eyes shining with laughter and love. She pretended to think for a moment. “That you’re the most handsomest virilest sexiest wonderfulest man on this world or any other?”

He crawled onto the bed, his lips hovering over hers. “Good answer.”

* * *

A long time later Buffy stirred from her resting place sprawled across Jack’s chest. She planted a lingering kiss on his lips, then carefully levered herself off of him and out of bed.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

She took her robe off the hook and belted it around her. “Someone needs to turn off the lights and lock up before we both fall asleep and I didn’t think my lazy boyfriend was in any hurry.”

Jack didn’t bother to open his eyes or lift his head as he responded in her favorite reply, a raspberry. She was giggling as she left the room and padded downstairs.

Buffy hadn’t been able to spend as much time as she would have liked with Jack in Colorado, but she had spent enough time in his house to feel proprietary in a way she never felt with the house in Cleveland or even her mother’s house in Sunnydale. In this house there were no girls fighting over the remote or the breakfast cereal or the comfy chair or the multitude of other things they could find to bicker over. Occasionally she could find Anna and Cassie sprawled in the living room, but that felt different somehow. Even though Buffy technically lived in the large house in Ohio, Colorado Springs had become her home.

Walking into the kitchen she checked to make sure that everything had been put away earlier and the coffee pot was off before turning the lights out and making her way to the living room. She took a minute to look around at the photographs on Jack’s mantle and wall of his team of friends. The secrecy of their relationship had truly started by accident and grown until here they were, two years later with neither set of friends or family knowing of the other, which was also why the few pictures of Jack and Buffy together or with Anna were in their bedroom and not on public display. Now that it had been so long it made it even harder to tell people without hurt feelings or shock. After her dramatic entrance onto the base, for Jack’s team the cat was well and truly bagless. “Guess I picked the wrong week to give up amphetamines.”

“What have I told you about the mood altering drugs?”

Buffy smiled, her slayer senses having warned her of Jack’s presence before he spoke. “That they’re better left in 1969?”

“Exactly.” He wrapped his arms around her from behind.

“But that’s so not fair. You got to experience it twice and I didn’t get to see it even once!”

“Don’t make fun of the old guy.” He nuzzled into her neck and she relaxed back against him with a hum of pleasure, letting the subject topic go without a thought.

They were silent for a minute before she asked. “So, how do you think your team’s going to react?”

Jack smiled, knowing that they’d had variations of this discussion before but willing to have it again if it would calm her nerves. “Well, based on what I saw today, I think you and Carter are probably going to get along better than I’d like and gang up on the rest of us. T’ll undoubtedly react in his usual overemotional manner, with lots of hugging and crying.”

She giggled, as he’d known she would after hearing so many Teal’c stories. “Yeah, he and Oz can get together and have a gab fest about it all.”

He gave a soft snort of laughter. “’Taming the beast within, next Dr. Phil.’”

Buffy laughed outright, but didn’t let herself get too sidetracked. “So does this mean you’re going to have to meet _my_ team now?”

“If you’re ready for that. I thought I held up well under the in-law onslaught tonight, but then again Hammond is just one guy, and all he can do is give me extra paperwork and drive me crazy at work. Some of your other family members have powers a little dicer than that.”

She turned in his arms so she could look up at him and gave a little hum of pleasure at the discovery that he’d just pulled on a pair of sweatpants to follow her downstairs and his chest was gloriously bare. She smoothed her hands over his collarbone. “Are you really scared of them? You, the great Jack O’Neill, fearless leader of SG-1?”

“Hell yeah. But not necessarily because of their woo woo powers, I just know how much you would want us to get along and I don’t know that taking home an aging, graying Air Force Colonel is really going to impress them.”

“I think as long as you don’t call them ‘woo woo powers’ to their faces you’ll probably be okay.” She grinned. “Besides, I have a feeling they’re going to love you. I’ll just make sure I never let you and Xander get together or I may never see either of you again … but that’s a whole ‘nother story.”

He smirked. “Suggestions noted. When you’re ready for me to meet them, I’ll promise to be on my best behavior.”

“Now _that’s_ a scary thought.”

Jack released her to grasp her hand and begin gently tugging her from the room, pausing to turn off lights along the way. They had double-checked the locks on the front door and were headed upstairs, still hand in hand, before Buffy spoke again. “You know ... Dawn does have parents weekend coming up in a few weeks. Giles was going to go until he found out that it’s the same weekend as some symposium in New Delhi, so it would just be the three of us. Meeting Dawnie might be a good start.”

Jack did his best to ignore the nerves he suddenly felt. It had been a lot of years since he’d had to handle meeting a girlfriend’s family. “Sounds good.”

She giggled, easily reading him. “Liar.”

He couldn’t dispute it, so didn’t even try, instead leading her back into their bedroom and pulling on the tie to her robe, hoping to distract her.

Buffy moaned as his hands explored the bare skin they found as her robe opened and she willingly dropped the thought of any more conversation.

* * *

Jack tried not to disturb her as he leaned to reach for the light switch, plunging the room into darkness, and she made a contented sound as she snuggled closer. “Love you.”

He pressed his lips against the top of her head and stroked one large calloused hand across her shoulders. “Love you more.”

Buffy sleepily chuckled, letting the rhythm of his heart beating lull her.

He closed his eyes and felt himself start to drift until a random thought made him open his eyes again. “You know, you never did tell me what happened the first time you tried to cook dinner for Hammond.”

Her body tensed against his and there was a pause. Jack smirked, “I’m gonna find out someday.”

Buffy unfroze, snuggled closer while mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like, “In your dreams, flyboy.” Then, for the first time in the years they’d been sleeping together, she let out a snore.

Jack grinned into the darkness. Life with Buffy might not be peaceful, but it was sure a fun adventure, and he couldn’t wait to see what was to come.


End file.
